


This Wasn't How it Was Supposed to Go

by Baron_Velociraptor



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Assassination Plot(s), Cosmo comes later, James exists now only to get his ass beat and be salty about it, Keith is hired to kill Lance, M/M, Prince Lance (Voltron), Shiro was an assassin with Keith but quit, shiro is a knight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-07-04 15:56:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 26,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15844569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baron_Velociraptor/pseuds/Baron_Velociraptor
Summary: "Keith was drunk. Very drunk. He’d been at the tavern for three hours now, and he’d been drinking like a monster since his ass hit the seat. His brother had been kidnapped. He only knew this because he got a letter saying something along the lines of ‘Kill the prince or your brother dies. Don’t be stupid.’ He spent the rest of the day cooped in his house waiting for his brother to walk through the door of their cabin, but to no avail."Keith is hired by a scorned woman to kill Prince Lance to save his brother's life. In his attempt to assassinate the Prince, he becomes his personal guard, and grows close to him. What happens when Keith realizes he's fallen in love?





	1. The Mission

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic, and I'm sorry if it's bad. Lemme know what you think. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

     Keith was drunk. Very drunk. He’d been at the tavern for three hours now, and he’d been drinking like a monster since his ass hit the seat. His brother had been kidnapped. He only knew this because he got a letter saying something along the lines of ‘Kill the prince or your brother dies. Don’t be stupid.’ He spent the rest of the day cooped in his house waiting for his brother to walk through the door of their cabin, but to no avail.

     Shiro lived by his schedule, and he only deviated when he had a mission. He didn’t have a mission, hadn’t for a while. Shiro wanted to leave the guild and start a new life, and it was working. The guild didn’t hold any grudges, started letting him go peacefully, giving him less and less missions as the months went on. Shiro had a partner now, and a steady job as a local guard. Things had been good.

     That is until he was kidnapped. Keith was at a loss. How did this mystery person know he could kill? Why would they want him to kill? There were plenty of people who would love to get paid to kill a Prince. Plenty that lived outside of the kingdom, who would do it for free. So  _ why _ blackmail Keith? Which brings us to why he was drinking. Nothing made sense, and Shiro wasn’t around to help him through it. He was, once again, completely alone.

     As Keith knocked back another glass of beer, a woman slid into the booth with him. Keith glared with hazy eyes, expecting it to be the barkeep or servers telling him he was cut off and it was time to go home. Much to his surprise, it wasn’t either. It was a stranger he’d seen around, but they had never talked up to this point.

     “What’s the matter dear?” She asked. Keith looked her up and down and raised his cup asking for a refill.

     “Nothing.” He responded curtly, words slurring just slightly due to the alcohol.

     “Are you sure you should be drinking more? Drink too much and you could die you know.” She says leaning on the table.

     “You can die from a lot of things, so if you’re here to lecture me. Piss. Off.” Keith leaned across the table, into her face. He only leaned back when he saw a server come by with another drink for him. Her eyes widened at his outburst, and then narrowed. Keith was making quick work of the drink in his hands. When he placed the glass down,  she leaned on the table, taking hold of his wrist.

     “Do you think you should be acting like this while your brother is god only knows where, suffering from god only knows what?” She grit out. Keith flails his arm out of her grasp.

     “How do you know about that?!” He screeches out. He hadn’t said a damn thing to anyone about anything!

     “Because I’m the one who took him, and I’m the one who wants the Prince dead. So you better kill him or you brother will die, Keith.” She growls. Suddenly she stands, and is gone. Keith is left with his mind reeling. He was too drunk for this. He finished his drink and leaves some coins on his table, and starts to black out. He needs to get home. Sleep. Figure out how in the hell he’s going to kill a Prince. He gets to the door and suddenly the world goes black.

 

\--

 

     When Keith woke the next morning he was sweaty and his face felt cracked. He'd gotten blackout drunk and cried himself to sleep. Wonderful. When he sat up he was still in his clothes from yesterday, and, even better, on Shiro’s bed. 

     “Pitiful..” he whispered to himself, as if pointing out the obvious would make him feel better. Well sitting here wasn't going to get shit done, or bring Shiro back. Keith stood and walked over to Shiro’s mirror taking himself in. He moved a piece of paper attached to the mirror aside to see his face properly. He needed to shower, desperately, and he needed to eat. Once he was situated, then he could start thinking of a plan. You can't just waltz into the castle and kill a  _ Prince  _ after all.

     After dragging himself through his morning routine, slow and unsteady due to his hangover, he sat in the living room on the floor. There had to be an opportunity of some kind here. 

     There was the Prince’s upcoming birthday ball. But there was no guarantee that he could get to him, or even get him alone. If he wanted to do a break in kill at night he'd have to spend months learning the schedules of the guards-

     “Wait that's it!” Keith shouts to himself. Standing, he rushes back to Shiro’s room. Attached to his mirror was a paper advertising an opening position for the royal guard. Shiro had been looking into joining, thinking the pay would be better, and allow him to work steadier hours closer to home rather than all over the kingdom. This was it. This was his way in. He could become a royal guard and befriend the other guards to learn their routines, learn who is by the prince the most, and within a week the prince could be dead, he would have Shiro back, and no one would be the wiser. This was how Keith was going to assassinate the Prince. 

     Keith began to search Shiro’s room, trying to see if there was more information on the position. What it would entail, any prior knowledge Keith would need to ensure that he would be the new guard hired. He found a few manuels from when Shiro was training to be a town guard. The basics really, but it was the best place to start.

     He looked back to the paper, interviews were being conducted in two days. He had two days to familiarize himself with all the basic knowledge of being a royal guard. A trip to the library wouldn't hurt. Maybe it might have more information on the duties of a royal guard.


	2. Keep me posted

     Keith spent the whole day in the library. His head hurt from the hours of reading and research he had conducted. Surprisingly there were plenty of books on being a guard and a royal guard, which made it easier for Keith. Being a royal guard was simple enough, so long as you followed orders from the chief, then things were as smooth as butter. 

     He figured the knowledge he had was enough, and decided to pay a visit to the tavern. This time he wasn't going to drink, unless it was water. He needed dinner, desperately. He skipped lunch in favor of reading the ever captivating chapter on proper spear wielding. Some very moving stuff in that chapter… Keith sighed. Hopefully he'd see the woman tonight so he could tell her his plan. That way she wouldn't kill Shiro after a day of aggravation at not hearing that the prince was dead.

     When he walked into the tavern, it was all familiar faces. People who were here every day at the same time drinking their days pay away. They were all pitiful. But was Keith really one to judge? Taking his seat at a table he raised his hand to grab the attention of the server. She walked over, her breasts barely covered in a fashion that had Keith assume that she fishing for a little extra from the night’s patrons. 

     “What can I getcha?” She asked, voice a little too perky.

     “Steak, mash, and buttered carrots.” Keith said plainly, already regretting his choice to come here and stay sober. She nods and jots everything down.

     “I'll be back with a water, sir!” She chimes. Keith audibly groans after she leaves. People can be so unbearable sometimes. He waits patiently, thrumming his fingers against the table to pass the time. Every so often he looks around to see if he can spy the woman who claims to have Shiro. From his quick glances he doesn't notice much, but he can feel eyes on him so he assumes that it's her. 

     The server comes back with his water, more pep in her step than before.

     “I've place your order, everything should be out soon!” She chimes. Keith nods, and waves her off. He couldn't shake the feeling of eyes boring into him, so he turns to meet the gaze of the person looking at him, and sure enough it's her. He motions for her to come over with his head, and she promptly ends the conversation with the patron at the bar, and joins Keith at his table.

     “So, what do you have for me?” She asks.

     “I've got a plan, and it shouldn't take more than two weeks to execute.” He responds.

     “You expect me to wait?” She asks incredulously.

     “Look lady, I don't know what your deal is, but killing a prince isn't as easy as putting butter on bread. Shit takes time and careful planning.” He retorts. She hums thoughtfully. She opens her mouth to speak again, but the server comes and places Keith's food on the table.

     “Here's your food! Howdy madam, would you like anything?” She asks.

      “No, I'm quite alright. Thank you.” And she smiles, the server leaves and her attention is brought back to Keith.

      “What is your plan?” She demands. Keith sighs, getting a forkful of mashed potatoes.

      “There's a position opening for the royal guard. I go in, wow them with my knowledge and skills, get the job, and in a month the prince is dead.” Keith sumerizes. Of course he left out some minor details, and he extended the time it would take just in case people got suspicious. The woman nods.

     “I'm only telling you this because I don't want you to kill my brother when you don't see immediate results. I'm an assassin not a miracle worker. Something's just can't happen overnight.” He adds. He really didn't need to justify himself to her, especially unprompted, but his point needed to be known.

     “That's fair,” she says leaning back in her chair.

     “Alright I'll make sure your brother is taken care of. You focus on killing that prince, and then all of this will be gone.” She finishes. She then stands and leaves the table, going back to the patron at the bar. Keith sighed and continued to eat his dinner in silence.

     It was ridiculous that he was following this woman's plan. He could easily follow her to find Shiro, but she was probably smart and has him at a secondary location. Not to mention that there's no way she subdued Shiro and moved him on her own, so that meant she had a partner. Oh this was fucked. He was fucked. He just hoped that he could do this, and save Shiro at the very least. Hoped that the woman was honest and would spare Shiro, instead of kill him when Keith completed the mission.

     Once done with his food, which was pretty shit when he was sober, he placed the money on the table and left. As he was exiting the tavern, he paused and turned to the woman. She was watching him. He walked to her and took her. By the arm threateningly. 

     “Shiro better be well taken care of. No funny business or I swear the prince won't be the only one dead.” He whispers to her. She yanks herself of of Keith's grasp and just stares at him. Keith scoffs at her, and the leaves the tavern. He had to go sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long fucking day.


	3. Today's The Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next morning when Keith wakes up, it's to the sun shining on his face and birds chirping. He needed to shower, eat, and see if he could find something akin to armor for him to wear to this damn thing. Today was the day of try-outs and honestly he just wanted it to be over with already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TBH the longest chapter so far...  
> Sorry for the wait, classes started a couple weeks ago and I just found the free time. Expect random updates.

The next morning when Keith wakes up, it's to the sun shining on his face and birds chirping. He needed to shower, eat, and see if he could find something akin to armor for him to wear to this damn thing. Being an assassin was easy, it meant light clothes that were black. If it was cold, he could wear his cloak, and he was set. But armor was just annoying. He even hated seeing Shiro in it. Metal armor was just clunky and unnecessary in his opinion.

Keith sighed. Lying here internally complaining wasn't going to get him anywhere. He rolled out of bed, and stood to walk to the shower. It was quick, because he had very little time to waste. Punctuality was one of the first skills for being a royal guard. Early is on time, on time is late, late is death. Well not death per se, but it resulted in punishment. Leaving the shower he threw on some light clothes so he could change out of them when he went to put on the armor, and threw his hair up in a ponytail.

Breakfast was also quick because it had to be filling, and have protein because who knew when he was going to eat again today. He sure as hell didn't.

After finishing his food, he wandered into Shiro's room to see if he could find his armor. He did, but there was a problem. Everything was too big. Shiro was built like a tank, Keith, while strong and muscular, did not match him in the slightest. He sighed in defeat, tossing the armor on to Shiro's bed.

He could always wear his leather armor, it was easier to move in, and he would be wearing armor.

Going into his room, he dressed in light clothes, red tunic, white pants, leather armor. He then took Shiro's sword, and hung it by the scabbard from his belt. This whole get up didn't scream ‘candidate for royal guard’, but at least it didn't say ‘I'm an assassin’, so there was that.

On his way out, he grabbed an apple to snack on, just to make sure he was well nourished before this whole… thing. He wasn't sure he was ready, or if he could pull this off. He'd assumed many roles before, but a guard? Pretending to be someone who protected and enforced the law? It was outside his comfort zone to say the least.

Once he got the castle, there were a few guards posted outside.

“State your business.” One said.

“I'm here to sign up for the royal guard position.” Keith responded as flatly as he could. The guards smiled.

“You're the first one to show up. I'll take you to it.” The other said. Keith nodded and followed the guard. The walk was short and led them to a courtyard. There was only one person sitting on a marble bench under a tree. He was beautiful, was Keith's first thought. He was brought back to when he heard the guard spoke.

"Your highness, the first contender for the position has shown up.” The guard stated. The man leaned forward, and turned towards them. He had these beautiful blue eyes that sparkled. His eyes widened slightly when he looked to Keith, and he didn't know why.

"What's your name?” He asked, voice low, burning with curiosity.

“Keith Kogane.” He responded flatly, trying to keep cool.

“I'm Lance,” he responds. Oh shit. This is Lance? The fucking prince.

“Come here and sit with me.” Lance adds, waving him over. Keith walks over and hesitantly sits beside the Prince.

“So why do you want to be a royal guard?” He asks casually. It catches Keith off guard. He'd been prepared for questions regarding his knowledge of being a guard, and even more prepared for any physical work he'd have to do to prove himself. But this was just out of left field for him.

“Uhh, well, it pays well and it's close to home. Not to mention I'm really good at jobs that involve silence and physical labor.” He responds. Which wasn't a total lie. Lance nods in response.

“That's fair. I wasn't expecting anything fancy like ‘to serve my prince would be an honor most noble blah blah blah’, you know?” He answers back, seemingly reading Keith's confusion.

“Wait, so this position is to serve you alone?” Keith asks. Lance nods.

“Of course? Did you not know that?” Lance chuckles slightly. Keith panics and thinks over the flyer Shiro had. Nowhere on it did it specify what the position entailed.

“No I didn't, guess I must've had an old flyer.” He mutters. Lance smiles.

“That's ok, but does it change your mind about the job?” He asks.

“Not at all.” Keith responds quickly.

“Great, because I like you, and would hate for that to be a deal breaker.” Lance says lamely. Keith sputters. What the fresh hell? They'd only been talking for five minutes, they just met, how could he say that so nonchalantly?

“So am I hired?” Keith asks. Lance nods.

“Yeah, I think you'd be perfect.”

“How can you be so sure? Don't you need proof of my abilities?”

“You showed up early, you're wearing leather armor, you have a sword at your side, and your hair is pulled up. From my first impression alone, you seem well educated and skilled in combat. You might not have any experience being a guard, but that doesn't make you any less talented and smart. Besides, people with the mindset of a guard are always so predictable and boring, and as someone who gets very little excitement in my life, I’m always eager to shake things up. But please if you wish to prove me right, be my guest. I would love to see you in action.” Lance answers, settling back on to his bench. Keith stared blankly back at him.

“Oh, I suppose if I were to watch your technical skills, we would need another person so you can battle them. James would you kindly step out for a moment.” Lance calls turning slightly to face a guard posted by the door. He walked forward joining Keith and Lance, standing before the Prince.

“How may I be of service my Prince?” He asked.

“Well the new guard wants to prove to me he can stand his ground, so my hope is that you could fight with him.” Lance explains. Keith grows nervous suddenly. He always fought to kill, so he’d have to hold back so as to not scare the Prince and lose this golden opportunity.

“Of course my Prince.” James replies. He turns and takes about five steps from the Prince and looks to Keith glaring him down. Keith looks to Lance, silently asking what he should do.

“Well if you want to get this over with, just walk over to my dear James, and attack. First one to yield loses.” Lance explains. Keith blinks, then looks at the guard. Realistically speaking he could easily take down this James, but at what cost? His fighting skills were largely based on assassin protocol, meaning they varied largely from any standard skills a palace guard would have. Keith hesitantly joined James in the sun, hand on his sword the whole time.

Once Keith was across from James, James squatted, prepared to fight. Keith drew his sword and waited. James lunged forward blade pointed straight at Keith. With a swift side step Keith parried the jab, and jumped to the side trying to maintain distance. Once James regained his bearings, he made slow deliberate movements towards Keith, but Keith was one step ahead and with a swift jab, threw the blade forward. Surprisingly James doged it, but just narrowly. There was a cut on his side, one that had torn through the fabric of his undershirt, a narrow barely visible opening. James reeled back, now he was the one keeping distance. He looked down at the cut. It hadn’t even breached the skin, but he could’ve sworn that he felt the blade pierce him. James looked up and saw that Keith was calm, unwavering. It was almost as if Keith was waiting for him to catch up and get the picture. Angered, James lunged forward again.

"Fight me like a man!” He yelled in anger. Keith couldn’t help but smirk. Anger led to patterns, and patterns led to openings, and any opening, well, sadly for James, that meant victory for Keith. So Keith played this to his advantage. Parrying and dodging, occasionally throwing a precise slice at James that would just barely miss his skin in locations that took years of brutal training to access with the ease Keith was. By the time James’ anger had overtaken him, Keith was easily able to parry and drop low sweeping his leg around, knocking James to his back. Keith pointed the blade at his neck, poised to kill from instinct, but quickly let it fall swapping it for a look of pride. James rolled his eyes and huffed in anger.

“I yield….” he muttered under his breath. Triumphantly Keith resheathed his sword, and offered a hand to James. James slapped it away, and stood on his own, then walked away with a huff. Keith turned his gaze to the Prince, trying not to show his excitement. Battling was his strong point, so he knew that the Prince had to be amazed, even if it was only slight. The Prince was wide eyed. This left Keith nervous because he couldn’t get a read on it. Lance blinked a couple of times then shook his head.

“Well, now you’re definitely hired.”


	4. New Home

     “Well, now you’re definitely hired.” The Prince said, voice even but somehow slightly amazed. Keith’s eyes widened. Did the Prince truly mean it? He had the rest of the day and probably hundreds of other willing men and women who would probably be better suited for this.

     “Are you sure? Wouldn’t you rather see all your options before making a final decision?” Keith asked.

     “No. It has to be you. I can feel it.” Lance explains. Keith blinks.

     “How can you be so sure?” He asks.

     “Well for starters I know every man, woman, and child training to be a guard as we speak. Since I was a boy, father made it a point to visit the locals and learn the faces of the people who would serve me one day. When you walked in, I had never seen you before, never learned your name, never spoke to you. Secondly, the fact that despite this obvious fact that you are not trained to be a guard, you still have the knowledge of one. Lastly, and I don’t even have to go into detail, but your fighting skills are pretty self explanatory. There’s no one in this kingdom like you, and if I’m going to be assigned a personal guard I want them to be special.” Lance explains. Keith stares at the Prince. That was…. Really nice of him.

     “Well…. Thanks I guess. It’s uhh an honor to serve you.” Keith tries. Lance laughs at the attempt.

     “You don’t have to say that. Gosh it makes it so weird to hear someone say that. Also you don’t have to call me Prince Lance, or Your Highness when we’re in confidence. It’s suffocating to be a Prince, so when we’re alone you don’t have to remind me.” Lance says with a smile as he stands. Walking over to the guard who led Keith in, Lance whispers something, the guard looks a little surprised, turns to Keith, speaks quietly to the Prince, only to have Lance nods in response. The soldier nodded, and went back to the entrance. Lance turned and waved Keith over, so Keith walked up to the Prince.

     “Alright, now that that is taken care of, I’m going to personally show you around the castle and to the barracks so that you can familiarize yourself with your new workplace.” Lance explains. Keith’s nods hesitantly, but follows the Prince inside. The entrance to the castle that they entered from was very humble. Obviously they didn’t enter through the throne room, they seemed to enter from a bailey that led to the kitchen. The Prince seemed to grow happier as they walked in. He look around the room, wide smile on his face. He turned a corner and jumped in excitement.

     “Hunk, I did it! I found my guard!” He said. As Keith drew closer, a large man came into view. His features were strong but soft. He smiled at the Prince.

     “That’s amazing Lance, but are you sure so soon? Interviews just started, you must’ve seen only one person…” This Hunk said quizzically.

     “Well it’s because I did only see one person.” Lance explains, taking a seat at a central table. He leaned forward and grabbed a grape and ate it. He then turned and gestured to Keith who was still in the doorway.

    “Hunk this is Keith, my newly appointed personal guard. Keith, this is my longtime best friend, who just so happens to be the greatest cook I know, Hunk.” Lance introduces the two. Keith walked further into the kitchen and gave a kurt wave. Hunk walked over wiping his hand on an apron before holding it out to shake. Keith hesitantly took it and they shook.

     “Nice to meet you.” Hunk said to him. He took a couple steps back, and went and leaned on the table.

     “So since you’ve stopped in my kitchen are you here looking for food?” Hunk asks. Lance nods.

     “Yes I wasn’t hungry when I woke up for the interview, because nerves, but now that it’s over, I’m famished.” Lance dramatizes. Hunk laughs.

     “Alright, well I make you breakfast, and have it delivered to your room.” Hunk says. Lance nods.

     “Sounds good to me, I have to finish showing Keith around. Oh mind my manners, Keith, is there anything you want while you’re here?” Lance asks. Keith thinks for a moment.

     “Uhh… sure..? I guess.” He answers. Hunk smiles and nods.

     “You don’t have to if you’re not hungry.” He replies.

     “No, I’d like to try your cooking.” Keith replies. To be honest since Shiro was taken, he’d forgotten what home cooked food could taste like with flavor.

     “Alright, are you hungry for anything in particular?” Hunk asks.

     “Not really, so you can make whatever I guess.” Keith shrugs. Hunk nods.

     “Well I’m keeping it small since the cooks will be serving lunch soon.” Hunk explains. Lance nods and walks to a doorway. 

     “Well, we'll be looking forward to it.” Lance replies from the doorway. Turning to Keith, he smiles.

     “Well come on, we've got the whole castle and the grounds you need to familiarize yourself with. We shouldn't waste another minute.” Lance says to him. Keith straightens immediately and walks to the door. He offers a weak wave to Hunk then follows Lance out of the kitchen.

 

\----------------------------------------------------

 

     They spent the whole day walking the castle grounds, only stopping to eat the food Hunk cooked, having it delivered to the garden rather than Lance's room at his request and then the lunch the cooks made. Keith had to say that he preferred Hunk’s cooking, and Lance wholeheartedly agreed, but explained that Hunk wasn't the head chef and had no say in how the castle’s meals were prepared. At the end of the very extensive and detailed tour of every inch of the castle and it's grounds Lance ended with what he claimed was the best part of the tour. They reach a door and Lance pushes it open.

     “This is my room.” He says walking in and turning to Keith. Keith stands in the doorway gazing around the room. Lance's room alone covered about half of his humble home with Shiro. The bed was centered and massive, with a curtain draped from the high ceiling around. There was a wardrobe in the corner, and a standing mirror next to it. On the other side of the room was a dresser and a vanity sit littered with trinkets, jewelry, and other accessories. Beside that we're two chaise couches and a table between them with a tea set. Across from Lance's bed was a door. Keith points at it dumbly.

     “Where's that go?” He asks. Lance turns around glancing at the door and smiles.

     “Oh it leads to a balcony.” He answers walking over to it. He opens the doors and waves Keith over. Hesitantly Keith makes his way to Lance and peers outside. His mouth falls open for a brief second as he takes in the view of the town in the distance. From here Keith could see everything, the barracks, the garden, even the little area he met Lance this morning.

     “Wow…” he says barely above a whisper. Lance sighs loudly looking at Keith, then out the doors. Keith blinks and looks at Lance quizzically.

     “What?” He asks.

     “It's been awhile since I've felt like that about most views. It's sad that I've gotten used to this.” Lance replies. “But don't worry, it's nothing you need to concern yourself with.” Lance waved his hand and walks to his bed, plopping down onto the sheets. Keith walks out onto the balcony and takes in the view. ‘This would make an excellent escape route.’ He thinks to himself. He felt bad being nice to Lance and his friend, so far he couldn't see anything wrong with the man, but his life would have to end if he wanted to preserve his brothers. While Keith was calculating the probability of injury from a fall from the balcony, a knock came from the door.

     “Prince Lance, it's dinner time.” A woman's voice calls out. Lance sits up.

     “Alright you can bring it in.” Lance responds.

     “Actually your parents wish for you to join them, and for you to bring your guard so they can meet him.” She replies. Keith turns around and looks at Lance, who is standing up and offers nothing to Keith's confusion and slight panic. He was going to be meeting the King and Queen.

     “Alright, tell them well be down shortly.” He responds.


	5. Family Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith meets the rest of the Royal Family over dinner

    “I bet you weren’t expecting that, were you?” Lance asks. Keith shook his head.

    “That makes sense. Uh, well, you’re…” a pause as Lance takes in Keith. “Presentable. I don’t think they’ll hate you… but they’re picky so, who knows. Just uh. Be yourself? And as charming as possible. If mother likes you then father will keep his mouth shut.” Lance explains. Keith panics. ‘Be myself…..’

    “I’m not sure if this was clear or not, but if I were to be myself, I’d be quiet and very awkward.” Keith mutters almost sourly. He didn’t mean to sound rude, it just slipped.

    “Well, I guess we’ll figure it out then…” Lance sighs. This was going to be an interesting dinner. Why did mother and father want to meet Keith? Did they not trust his judgement as a prince? It had to have been that he jumped the gun and hired the first person to walk through the gates. This was most definitely a test to see if Lance was qualified as a prince. Which shouldn’t matter anyway, because Allura was older and she would most definitely take the crown before he ever had to think about it. Lance sighs and stands, walking to the door and pulling it open.

    “Guess we better get this over with. Meeting the parents for the first time is always awkward right? And it’s the King and Queen, so no pressure there.” Lance jokes, trying to make light of the situation. Keith crosses his arms in a deadpan.

    “I’ll fucking say…” He mutters in response.

    “Uhh… no swearing in front of my parents. I do need them to like you.” He adds. Keith sighs in response but nods.  
    “Best behavior, got it.” The two head down stairs, led by a woman, who Keith presumed was the woman who called them to dinner. When they walk into a great dining hall Keith can see the King at the head of the table, an older, but still beautiful woman to his right and another beautiful woman to his left. Against the wall are a few soldiers. Keith side eyes Lance before pointing to the other soldiers, and Lance shakes his head.

    “You’ll stand behind me, since you’re my guard.” He whispers. Keith flattens his lips, but follows Lance’s lead. Lance walks over to the chair beside the young woman, and Keith takes some initiative to try and impress everyone and pulls the chair out for Lance. Lance smiles and with a little lilt to his voice goes ‘Thank you.’ Once seat Keith pushes the chair in slightly and stands idly behind the Prince, stance tall and proud. Like the other soldiers.

    “So, I take it the day was successful for you Lance?” A deep voice bellows. Keith assumed it was the King, but didn’t bother to turn his head. Lance nods enthusiastically in front of him.

    “Obviously dad, this is Keith.” Lance responds casually. There’s a soft melodic chuckle that comes from across the table.

    “He’s quiet beautiful Lance, you truly do have a preference, don’t you?” The Queen teases. Keith blushes. Him? Beautiful? No. He was a slob at best.

    “Oh mom, please. He’s right here.” Lance sighs in embarrassment. Everyone at the table except him laughs at that.

    “Well, I must admit, I was a bit hesitant when the maids said you’d found him so quickly, but he seems so trained, and poised. I would love to face him in combat.” The girl beside Lance speaks. Keith’s uninterested expression falters at that.

    “Allura, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Keith has some serious skills.” Lance responds.

    “All the more reason to fight. James is quite boring, I think he lets me win…” She whispers. Her eyes turn to Keith.

    “I like a good challenge Keith, I really hope you don’t disappoint me.” She jokes. Lance shoves her playfully.  
“Back off, he’s my guard. If you want someone to spar with, hire your own.” Lance says.

    “Alright children, play nice.” The Queen speaks softly. Not long after that dinner is served to everyone. The chat idly about their day, mostly they listen to the King as he rambles about the work he’s had to accomplish throughout the day, starting and ending with paperwork. Allura sighs to herself, saying that as next to the crown she would’ve been happy to lend a hand. The Kings puffs out some air, and gives an excuse along the lines of Allura being young, and how she shouldn’t worry herself to much with that work, to which Allura responds by calling him stubborn and demands that the next time he’s overloaded with work, that he call her for help so she can properly do her job when she is Queen. Lance chats with his mom the whole time, occasionally reaching back to pat Keith, trying to get him in on literally any conversation. Keith preferred it when he got to, and as he quotes the Queen ‘stand there and look pretty.’ He wasn’t fumbling over his words trying to make the best impression of his life, only because he’d be royally screwed if anyone in this room found out his true intentions of being there.

    It actually pained Keith to pretend to be nice. Even if he managed to kill Lance and get Shiro back, Keith would be marked a traitor for killing the Prince. The whole kingdom would want him dead, a bounty would be put on his head. He’d never be able to go home. He’d never see Shiro again. Keith was brought out of his spiraling thoughts when he felt a pat against his thigh.

    “Would you like to eat dinner?” Lance asks. Keith stares blankly trying to follow Lance’s thought process.

    “Do you mean here? Or with the soldiers in the barracks-”  
    “Here Keith. You can eat with us.” Lance answers. Keith looks nervously at Lance, because suddenly the whole room is quiet and everyone is watching them.

    “I- I don’t know Prince Lance. Are you sure it would be appro-”  
“Doesn’t matter to me. What matters is that you are fed. So,” Lance grabs a plate and sets it beside him. “Would you like to eat dinner?” Lance asks again. Keith is sincerely touched by it. He nods softly, offer a gentle smile to the Prince. He hesitantly fills his plate with food, and offers a nervous smile to Lance. Lance smiles back and they eat in silence. It takes a few beats for the others to wrap their heads around what just happened and move on, continuing with their conversations.

    Once dinner is over, Keith offers a polite bow to everyone, but doesn’t say a word. Lance slides up beside him, linking their arms, and Keith’s heart does a funny thing it’s never done before. Lance thanks the cooks and staff for making and serving dinner, and then promptly tells everyone that they’ll be in his room if he’s needed. The King and Queen offer a soft goodnight, but the Princess decides to follow.

    “What’s up Allura?” Lance asks.

    “I want to get to know your guard a little. If I’m going to be seeing Keith around, we should at least know each other pretty well.” She says eyes slowly rolling to the side, implying obvious ulterior motives. Lance makes a face and Allura smiles at her brother.

    “Alright, fine. I do want to get to know Keith, but I really want to borrow his time, and do some sparring. I’ve done nothing all day. I’m antsy. Do this one thing, for your big sister.” She tries. Lance rolls his eyes. Then looks to Keith.

    “What do you want to do? You’re not my doll, so I can’t just say yes or no for you.” Lance says. Keith thinks for a moment. Sparring with the Princess… on the one hand, no. Just no, fighting the Princess didn’t seem right. But if he actually said that, he might sound sexist, which has happened to him more than once.

    “I guess we could spar for a little…” Keith says hesitantly, sound almost unsure of himself. Allura jumps with excitement.

    “Alright, meet me behind the barracks, in the training area. I need to get changed.” She says before running off. Once she’s gone, Keith turns his attention to Lance.

    “What have I just gotten into?”

    “Probably the worst fight of your life…” Lance replies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating in so long! Classes are slowly killing me, and finals are coming so I'm at max stress....


	6. Princess Allura

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when a fiery Princess wants to punch you???

    Lance led Keith to the training grounds so he could warm up a little while they waited for Allura. Keith was suddenly nervous about sparring with the Princess due to Lance’s explanation of how Allura fights.

    “Fast and calculated. Allura is so confident in her offensive and defensive skills that a couple years ago she fought every guard in our personal ranks to prove to father she didn’t want or need a personal guard.” Lance said. Keith could respect that. In fact he did respect that, but the way it sounded was that Allura was well aware of specific fighting styles, and sadly, as an assassin, Keith had to be proficient in all of them. Which is one of the only obvious traits an assassin has. Which is why Keith was nervous. He wasn’t ready to be found out. Even less ready to make up some bullshit excuse so he wouldn’t get fired or executed. He had to save Shiro, and this was the only way.

    A few moments later Allura descends a watch tower, and walks out to the open field. She’s dressed in a tight shirt and pants similar to Keith’s. Her pants were tucked into her boots and she forewent her tiara so she could pull it back into a braided bun. Already Allura had minimized the amount to exterior surfaces Keith had to grab onto. Keith shucks off his armor, wanting to avoid giving himself an advantage over the princess, and ties his hair back into a small ponytail.

    "Fighting must really suit you Princess.” He comments absentmindedly as he walks to meet her.

    “Well, when you grow up reading fairy tale stories of the Princess always needing to be rescued, you have to get tired of it at some point a prove to people that even Princesses can fight too.” She replies. Keith laughs.

    “Very true.” He responds.

    “So how do you want to do this?” He asks nonchalantly. Without hesitation the Princess lurches forward, throwing fists in Keith’s direction. Keith hops backward, pulling his hands to his face to protect. Allura kept pressing forward, which allowed Keith to see her pattern. Left right right, and then a brief moment to push forward before using her left again. Keith waits a couple more times blindly jumping back until he was sure of her pattern, to which he thrust his arm out punching her in the jaw. Allura stumbles back, and for a moment Keith thinks that he’s fucked up. Allura stands there unmoving, eyes wide in shock.

    “P-princess?” Keith asks quietly. Allura lets her head fall forward, as she raises a hand to her jaw, where she’d been hit. Then she smiles wide.

    “It’s been awhile since someone has actively tried to lay a hand on me.” She says. Keith is about to ask, but then Allura cracks her neck, with a renewed look of vigor in her eyes. This time when she comes at Keith, it’s aggressive, calculated, entirely different from before.

\------------------------------------------------------

 

    They continued fighting like that for what felt like forever, occasionally throwing punches, but at no point could either get the upper hand. So Lance had to stop them. Both were gross, beaten, and sweaty from a long fight. Allura stood tall, tucking some strands of hair that had slipped from her bun.

    “You fight good.” Is all Allura says. Keith nods and points to her.

    “You too.” He replies. The two nod, solemn respect.

    “Well, I’m going to shower, and ice what I can. You should too. And don’t worry about mother and father, they know me, so the bruise on my face won’t matter to them.” She adds. Keith nods thankfully.

    “Maybe you should try to teach Lance a couple of moves, nothing wrong with teaching someone some defense skills. I would do it myself, but he’s so against learning anything from me.” She says, playfully nudging Keith with her shoulder, saying the words loud enough for Lance to hear.

    “Excuse me Allura! Don’t go spreading lies to Keith. It’s rude” Lance protests.

    “It’s true.” She shoots back.

    The two siblings bicker on their way back inside. Allura parts from them, walking off to her room. Keith follows Lance back to his room, and when they arrive, he plops down onto the couch and sighs, exhaustion finally setting in.

    “Tired?” Lance asks. Keith opens an eye and nods.

    “It’s been a long day.” Keith responds. Leaning back onto the couch he lets his whole body decompress and relax into the softness.

    “Feel free to sleep then, I won’t tell anyone.” Lance jokes. Keith opens an eye, realizing that he is a guard and has a job to protect Lance.

    “No I should stay awake. It’d be irresponsible to sleep on your couch.” Keith responds moving to sit up.

    “Ah Keith don’t worry about it. It’s not like I’m dying tonight.” Lance says. Keith smiles awkwardly and nods.

    “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He responds. Lance wanders over to his dresser and shamelessly starts changing into his pajamas. Keith turns his head away, in a vain attempt to give Lance some privacy. With his back turned, Lance was able to toss some pajamas to Keith. Keith jumped slightly when he felt the fabric hit the back of his head.

    “You can sleep here tonight. I know you haven’t brought any of your things, and we haven’t properly set you up with a room, so I’ll give you some pajamas to borrow.” Lance says, now fully dressed. Keith looks down at the fabric behind him.  
    “So I’m going to live here? In the barracks?” Keith asks. Lance shakes his head.   
    “No, there should be a couple maids in the next room cleaning out the storage and setting the bed for you. Tomorrow we’ll go to your house so you can grab anything you need to move in there.” Lance says.

    “Usually people go home, but if you just want to sleep that’s fine too. I don’t mind sharing my room.” Lance adds. Keith blushes slightly, almost expecting to hear Lance say he didn’t mind sharing his bed. Staring at the clothes, he contemplated. He really didn’t want to go home and face the emptiness just yet.

    “Could you show me where the shower is?” Keith asks.

    Lance smiles. “Yeah, you can use mine, it’s right through that door." Lance says pointing across the room. Keith smiles and walks to the bathroom.

    The bathroom was gigantic, a vanity sink, with a almost wall sized mirror, a giant shower in one corner, and a giant tub in the other. Keith sets his things down on the large counter beside the sink and looks around grabbing a spare towel from the rack between the shower and tub, and moves toward the shower. Peeking inside he sees an array of products, several types of hair care, body washes, and quite the collection of facial care products. He stares at them as he blindly reaches to turn the water on. While he waits for it to warm up he changes out of his clothes, and sets them beside the pajamas Lance gave to him. Briefly he considers re-wearing his underwear but his nose scrunches at the thought. Maybe if he wasn’t going to shower, but he was gross. He turns back to the gentle spray of the water and sticks his hand under the spray. Pleasantly surprised at the relaxing heat, Keith steps into the shower and pulls the curtain closed.

    Keith stands under the spray for the longest time. The heat relaxing him to his core, making him briefly forget all his problems. While he let’s his mind fall blank, he hears the door open.

    “Keith, I’m having a maid wash your clothes, so there’s something you can wear tomorrow.” Lance says. Keith blinks and turns his head.

    “Alright, thanks.” He says.

    “Also I feel like I should mention that you can use whatever you want, but the face stuff. It’s confusing and really bad for your skin if you mix products.” Lance adds. Keith glances to the array of items lining the shower walls.

    “Alright thanks.” He says quietly. He hears the door softly click shut, and Keith’s mind starts to wander. It might’ve been a poor idea on his part to try and work for the person he was hired to kill. Especially since this person is known for being likable. Keith brings his hands up to his face and groans softly to himself.

    “Get over yourself Keith. All that matters is Shiro. This is for Shiro. You can’t let your feelings get in the way, you were taught better than that.” He whispers to himself angrily. He starts grabbing a small selection of bottles, and chooses the ones he likes the smell of, then washes himself.

    Once he’s done with the shower, he dresses, and walks out of the bathroom with the towel draped around his shoulders. He sees the couch made up with some silky looking sheets and a soft blanket with like five pillows, and looks to Lance.

    “I had someone help me make up a the couch like a bed for you. Figured you’d like to sleep a little more comfortably.” Lance says from his bed. He’s reading a book, and didn’t even bother to look up from it, able to read Keith from where he stood.

    “Wow… thanks.” Keith says.

    “Don’t worry about it. I just wanted to make sure you’re comfortable.” Lance replies. And with that, Keith towel dries his hair a little more, and walks over to the couch to relax. Settling under the blanket, almost immediately he feels his body and eyes fall heavy. Keith fell asleep as soon as he settled into the pillows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters today because I don't want to work on any of my finals :)


	7. Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morning antics and breakfast chats.

     Keith wakes up in the morning when a few maids bustling about the room. One is quietly moving a table over with his clothes and setting up a privacy screen between the couch Keith lay on and Lance’s bed. The maid setting his clothes down is the one to notice Keith wake.

     “Here are your clothes. Once the Prince wakes, the servants will bring in breakfast for the two of you to eat. Courtesy of Hunk.” She says quietly. Keith nods slightly, but pulls the blankets up over his mouth. Right, so Keith also has to factor in the wait staff that the castle has, not just the knights. How exciting. Maids and servants aren’t as predictable as knights, but Keith will figure it out. At that moment a maid yanks open the curtains, letting the sunlight shine into the room. In an instant, he hears a whine from the other side of the room, assuming it’s Lance stretching and waking up.

     “Morning ladies…” His tired voice echos out. All the maids chime a soft ‘Good morning my Prince.’ and Lance lightly laughs. They double their speed, setting everything up, and scurry out of the room. There’s some rustling from beyond the screen then some padding on the floor before Lance pokes his head around the screen.

     “Morning Keith.” Lance says, sleep still in his voice. Keith pulls the blanket down from his face.

     “Morning.” He responds.

     “We should get dressed so we can eat breakfast. We do have to head into town to collect your things today.” Lance gently reminds, stepping from behind the screen. Keith pulls up the blanket hiding his face, and the slight blush crossing his features. Lance wore silk pants, but no shirt.

     “Yeah, okay.” Keith mumbles, but doesn’t move. Lance smiles and walks off to change himself. Keith quietly sighs and pushes the blankets off himself. Damn... Lance was attractive. Keith let’s his head fall into his hands as he continues to sit there. Oh, that wasn’t good. Finding things to like about Lance was bad. He had to kill him and not feel guilty. Getting attached meant infinite problems for him. ‘Get a grip Keith, he’s a target. He will die by your hand, that’s all.’ He tells himself. Standing he starts changing out of his pjs and into his clothes, almost forgetting that he slept without underwear. Quickly he changes and sits back on the couch to wait for Lance to change or for the maids to come in with breakfast, what ever happened first. 

     A few minutes pass and nothing happens so Keith slowly stands and peers from behind the screen to see what Lance is up to. Lance is sitting at his vanity, fully dressed and preparing for the day. He washes his face, and puts on his jewelry. Lance spies Keith in the mirror when he looks up from his rings.

     “Ready for breakfast?” Lance asks watching him from the mirror. Keith nods in response and Lance smiles.

     “Alright. I’ll have the servants deliver breakfast.” He says standing. He walks to the door and opens it a crack, peering out to tell a maid that the two were ready for the servants to deliver breakfast. She nods and scurries off to the kitchen to have to food delivered.

     “It should be here soon.” Lance says as he turns to face Keith. With Lance no properly facing him he could see the prince dressed in an elegant blue and gold tunic, gold chains connecting buttons, a vest of a similar design beneath and a white button up. He wore black pants and black shoes to match, and with the jewels and crown carried a regal air, as a prince should. Keith was left breathless. Damn Lance and his stupid good looks, damn his impeccable fashion. Keith managed to keep a poker face as he nodded.

     “Sounds good. What should we do while we wait?” He asks.

     “Well you could tell me a little bit about yourself. Where you learned to fight like you did with my sister.” Lance offers. Keith couldn’t help the face he made at that. Great. Fake backstories. He wasn’t too good at making them up on the spot.

     “Well, my mom left my dad and I not long after I was born. Dad never told me where she went, so I assume she’s either dead or has a new family. Dad was a civil servant for a town about a days trip to the east. He was murdered. So I was orphaned. I was taken in by this… amazing guy, who’s like a brother to me. His name is Takashi Shirogane. Everyone just calls him Shiro. He and his friends taught me how to fight since because I was getting picked on for being an orphan.” Keith kinda lies. It felt natural, and hoped it didn’t register on his face that there was more to the story than that. Lance was nodding.

    “I’m sorry to hear about that Keith. But it’s clear that all your hard work had paid off. With you at my side, I promise you won’t have to endure any more hardships like that again.” Lance explains. Keith feels a pang of remorse in his heart as Lance speaks. The only other person to say something like that to him was Shiro. Keith looked away. ‘Don’t you dare get emotional.’ He thinks to himself. ‘The last thing you need is for your cover to be blown.’

     “Thank you…” He mutters quietly and before Lance can ask why Keith is suddenly in a bad mood the servants come in.

     “Your Highness, we come delivering breakfast. For you a piece of fruit tart, eggs, and a piece of cooked ham.” One servant explains removing the lid of Lance’s meal. Another servant walks over to Keith and sets down his platter.

     “And for the Royal Guard we have a piece of an egg bake of tomato, spinach, and cheese, toast, and a small fruit salad on the side. The chef sends his regards.” Keith takes in the breakfast and looks to Lance who is nodding appreciatively.

     “Thank you.” He says simply as the servants leave the room. The door clicks shut and Lance takes his plate and walks over to Keith, sitting on the couch with him.

     “So you were telling me about yourself.” Lance says trying to segway back into their conversation. Keith side eyes the prince as he’s sitting there casually eating his breakfast.

     “I’m a master at close combat. Swords and knives are my specialty. I really like to spar, and one day I’d like to settle down and, I dunno live in the middle of nowhere in a cabin with my husband or something like that.” He says with a shrug. That would never happen. He owes his life to the organization that took him in and in reality what he’d realistically end up doing is taking in and training people just like him. Lance’s eyes go wide.

     “Husband?” He asks softly. Keith looks at Lance and considers losing his shit because, yeah, fuck it he was gay to boot. Make fun of him like everyone else. Fire him. But he doesn’t. No need to get touchy so fast when he doesn’t understand the prince’s intentions with the question.

     “Yes, I’ve never been interested in maidens. I want a husband if I ever get the chance to marry and settle down.” He explains. Lance nods.

     “I’m engaged to a Princess from a neighboring kingdom. We’ve been friends ever since we were young. She’s only attracted to women, so our union is bittersweet. I myself am not particular about men or women. I find both attractive, and wouldn’t mind my suitor to be male or female.” Lance explains. Keith looks at Lance. A bisexual prince. Almost unheard of.

     “My fiance is the only one who knows. Well besides you now. My close friends don’t even know. If I told them, they’d probably tell me to call off my union to my fiance. Tell me to look for someone I love, but I have duty to our kingdoms.” Lance sighs.

     “I love her, but not in the way my parents think. She’s like a sister, and I’m almost certain she has a thing for Allura. But Allura as heir to the throne wishes to choose her own bride or husband when the day comes. So I’m the one who has to get engaged.” Lance explains. Keith leans back and takes a hesitant bite of his food.

     “Wow…” Is all he has to say in response. He’s dumbfounded. It was a lot to take  in.

     “Yes…” Lance responds. And with that, the two finish breakfast in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I've been on vacation for almost a month and I haven't updated. Forgive me everyone! I'll be better with the time I have left.


	8. Cloaks, Karambit Knives, and Headscarves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance's fiance comes to visit and everyone goes on a shopping trip.

     Moving his things out of his home and into the castle didn’t take very long. Keith wholeheartedly expected to be back there soon, so he took some clothes and that was about it. Things that could be replaced when he killed the prince. His only problem was that Lance insisted on helping, and when Keith refused to bring anything else, he wanted to see the home. Keith didn't want Lance to go inside. He’d see loose assignments hanging around the house, signs of another person living there. All things Keith did not need Lance seeing. Thankfully it didn’t take much to pursue the prince, courtesy of James, they had to head back to the castle so Lance could join his father and sister for a diplomatic meeting.

     The rest of the day carried that energy. It was one meeting after another, the four hopping around the castle to meet with other diplomats, villagers, and royalty. Towards the end of the day some guards came to the garden where Lance had taken Keith so that he could take a moment to relax, and maybe do some reading.

     “Your Highness, Princess Romelle and Prince Bandor have just arrived at the castle. Do you wish to meet with them or shall the servants bring them here?” A knight asks walking to the edge of the garden. Lance turns his head towards the knight, closing his book.

     “Bring Princess Romelle here, I’m sure Prince Bandor has already run off to meet with Allura.” Lance responds. The knight gives a curt nod and turns on his heels to relay the message to the servants. Lance sets his book down and looks up at Keith who has been leaning against the tree the whole time.

     “Romelle is the Princess I’m engaged to.” He says suddenly to Keith. Keith blinks and gives his attention to Lance.

     “Your fiance?” He asks, making sure that he’d heard Lance correctly. Lance nods.

     “And when she arrives you’ll see just how perfect we are for each other. We fight like I fight with Allura. She’s like a bratty younger sister.”   
     “Lance! That’s a terribly rude thing to say about you  _ fiance _ !” A voice calls out. The two turn their heads and there at the entrance to the garden stands a blonde woman with her hair pulled back into a style Keith couldn’t really describe. It looked like pigtails, but her bangs were braided. Lance smiles and stands, walking over to her.

     “Oh, Romelle, you only know I say things like that, because we’ve been friends for so long. Our engagement is like asking me to marry Pidge or Hunk. It just feels… unnatural..” He says bringing her into a hug.

     “Well you better consider yourself lucky that you’re cute, because I wouldn’t hesitate to beat the snot out of you otherwise.” She responds. She accepts the hug, and even gives Lance a well deserved jab in the gut. Once Lance doubles over in pain, she finally notices Keith.

     “Lance who is the man standing there? Is he your lover? He looks like your type…” Romelle says shamelessly. Keith turns his head to the side blushing at Romelle’s words, Lance immediately stands straight and starts waving his hands.

     “What? Romelle, no! This is Keith, he’s my personal knight.” Lance explains quickly. Keith rolls his eyes. 

     “Oh, your father mentioned that you would need to get one soon. I didn’t think that it would actually happen. I figured you might fight it like Allura.” She says crossing her arms.

     “I can’t really fight anything Romelle. I’m not the oldest, Allura can get away with what she wants, sadly I can’t. You know this.” Lance replies. Romelle nods.

     “Right, because we’re engaged, and that wouldn’t be a thing if your sister wasn’t so set on marrying for love.” Romelle explains. Lance just nods in response.

     “Well, let’s not dwell on that, because in a perfect world your sister would have wanted to marry me. And we would be in love, but… well you know.” Romelle uncrosses her arms and places them on her hips.

     “Well, I suppose we should go grab our siblings. While our parents chat, let’s visit the merchants. You’re kingdom always brings in the rich merchants who travel distant lands.” Lance smiles.

     “A shopping spree… That sounds like fun. Maybe a chance for you and Allura to grow close? Fall in love? Call off our union?” Lance teases. Romelle scoffs while blushing and hits his arm.

     “Ugh! I cannot believe you!” She yells, storming off. Lance laughs and turns to Keith.   
     “Well Keith, we should probably go. Romelle doesn’t like to wait when she wants to go shopping.” Keith nods in response and follows Lance back into the castle.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------

 

     When they arrived in town, everyone broke off into groups. Bandor ran off on his own, claiming to have spotted something interesting, Romelle hooked her arm into Allura’s and the two took off in what Lance assumed was the direction of the prettiest foreign fashion, leaving Lance and Keith alone. 

     "Is there anything you need?” Lance asks. Keith shakes his head.

     “I’ve never been to this side of town. The merchants quarter always seemed too… pricey…” Keith says making a face. And this was true. The merchants who came to the town often had items Keith could only purchase with a loan from the organization. The leather armor found here was of the highest quality, and Keith was an assassin with standards. Lance nods.

     “That’s understandable. Well, if you see anything you like. Just tell me. My treat.” Lance say. Keith opens his mouth to politely decline the offer, but Lance doesn’t give him the chance, eyes locking on a beautiful jewelry stand.

     The two traveled the market like that, Lance occasionally stopping to make a few purchases for himself, Keith never far behind. He did have a job after all. There was a shop that caught Keith’s eye, but he didn’t dare speak a word to Lance. It was beside the stand where Lance was being fitted with a new elegant purple cloak. Keith smiled to himself as he walked over stand catching his eye. He looks down at the array of knives before him, and immediately falls in love with a matching pair of karambit knives. The were made of a black metal, a simple black leather grip, and the ring at the base had jagged edges. It was sleek, discreet, and most importantly, came in a pair. 

     The owner walked over to Keith, spying his interest, but before the man could say a thing, Lance walks over to Keith.

     “I think I’m in love with this cloak.” He says excitedly. He catches Keith off guard as he admires the blade.

     “What are you looking at?” He asks. Keith pulls his hand away from the knives.

     “Nothing. Oh look Romelle and Allura are heading over. We should go meet them.” Keith says plainly. He makes his way over to the Princesses and is pulled into their conversation about headscarves.

     “No, Allura, you don’t understand. That pink silken one with the gold hem would’ve looked stunning on you!” Romelle protests.

     “I just don’t see the purpose of it! I could just wear my hood, or better yet, leave my hair down.”   
     “But what if your maids spent hours on an elegant braid, and you want to go for a walk on a chilly night? It’s not cold enough for your cloak, so your ears would be cold. Headscarf!” She protests.

     “Ah, Lance you must agree with me on this. Allura. Headscarf. Amazing.” Romelle says. Lance nods in agreement.

     “I think they’re very stylish. Not to mention that there are countries where it shows respect to the royalty to wear something so simply elegant. You should remember that sister.” Allura sighs.

     “Fine! On our way out I’ll buy it. You’ve twisted my arm.” She says, not really angry about the whole ordeal. Since they mostly regrouped, they went for the town center to wait for Bandor, and once the young Prince found them, they returned to the castle just in time for dinner.

     At the table sat both families, each king at the ends of the table, and the seats filled. Again Lance insisted that Keith sit with them, and no one paid them any mind, carrying on with the stories of their shopping adventure. It was late when Romelle and her family bid everyone farewell, and packed into their carriages. Everyone chose to retire to their bedroom for the evening, and tonight Keith would be sleeping alone in his new room.

    He sat on the massive bed. It was soft. Far softer than the cheap mattress he had at home. The blankets were soft too, clearly taken care of by the maids. Keith was trying to settle into bed, praying that the bed would be soft enough to coax sleep out of his restless mind, and eventually it did.

    The next morning when Keith woke maids were bustling around his room, pulling out his clothes for the day, and gently organizing his armor on the empty body of a mannequin. He sat up a blinked blearily at the woman who noticed him quickly.

     “Good morning Keith.” One says soothingly.

     “Once you are dressed Prince Lance would like you to join him in his chambers for breakfast. The other follows. Keith nods sleepily. As the maids are leaving one hovers by the door before placing a box down on the nightstand.

     “A gift from his Highness.” She says quickly, closing the door behind her as she leaves the room. Keith blinks and narrows his eyes at the box, not quite sure what to make of it, but leans over to grab it anyway. When he pulls open the box he sees the two karambit knives he’d spotted at the merchant’s quarter yesterday. He couldn’t help but smile to himself as he pulled one of the blades from the box and began to play with it.

     “Guess this means I’ll have to buy belts for my legs to attach these too…” He mumbles to himself.


	9. Goodnight My Prince

     It’s been two weeks since Keith was hired as Lance’s personal knight, and it’s been going great. He’s had plenty of time to memorize the routines of each knight during their rounds of the castle, and all the estimated time windows of the maids and servants to come by Lance’s room. So tonight was the night that Keith decided to kill Lance. The stars seemed to align for the moment. Allura went with her parents out of town for a diplomatic meeting leaving Lance and Keith mostly alone in the castle, save the knights at servants, and to top it all off, Lance decided he wasn’t feeling well, and wanted to go to bed early.

     So presently Keith is standing by Lance’s door, leaning against the wood as he watches Lance sleep. He looked so peaceful, sleeping mask covering his eyes, silken shirt slightly opened revealing his chest. His breathing was even, and could hear him softly snore. Slowly he pulls his blade out and walks over to the bed. Keith hesitates when he reaches the side of the bed. Lance had a king sized bed so he didn’t have the leverage point from the side of the bed to plunge a knife and plunge it into the prince’s heart. So gently he climbs into the bed, and hovers on his knees at Lance’s side. He looks at the prince, slowly dragging the blade across the exposed part of his chest. 

     Keith was hesitating. He never once hesitated before. In his defense, he’d never been so personally involved in an assassination. Slowly, Lance stretches, and Keith pulls the blade away. Lance’s hand comes up to his face and Keith thinks that Lance, in his sleeping state is scratching his face, but he was wrong. Lance pushes the sleeping mask off his eyes. He squints at Keith and rubs his eyes blearily.

     “Keith?” He asks sleepily. Keith is frozen, slowly he tucks the blade under his leg.

     “What are you doing here?” He asks sitting up, and stretching with a yawn. Keith blinks trying to come up with an excuse.

     “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d check up on you, but when I came in it didn’t look like you were breathing. So… I had to make sure you were okay.” Keith lies. Lance stares at Keith.

     “Wow… you… actually care about me…” Lance mumbles to himself. Keith looks at Lance in confusion.

     “Hey… I know this might sound weird, but do you think you sleep here tonight? In my bed? I’ve been having nightmares for some reason, but I’ve been too nervous to say anything to anyone.” Keith looks at Lance, and in that moment he looks so vulnerable. Keith could take the blade hidden beneath his calf, and jab it into his throat.

     “Yeah, sure. I just need to change into some pajamas.” Keith says, slowly sliding off the bed, descreetly slipping the kide into his hand. Lance smiles happily at Keith.

     “Thank you. But uh, just so we’re clear, you’re not obligated to do this. I’m just asking. Keith nods.

     “Yeah I know.” And hurries out of the room. When Keith is back in his room, he closes the door and leans against it. He could feel his face, it was red hot.

     “What the fuuuck?!” Keith whispers to himself. He takes the blade and shoves it into his nightstand. Keith heart was racing. Lance looked at him like his stupid lie meant the world to him, that it had some deeper meaning. Keith ran his fingers through his hair. At that moment, he recalled a distant memory.

 

_      “Shiro, how do you know you’re in love with Adam?” Keith asked one day at dinner. He’d met Adam a couple times before, Shiro’s boyfriend, and could see that the two were happy together, that they completed each other. When Shiro confessed to Keith that he was in love with Adam, it left Keith perplexed about the concept of romantic love. _

_      “Well, I guess it’s the little things. The way he looks at me makes my heart race. I can never get bored of being around him. We’ve known each other for years and I’m still learning new things about him that I love. But love is different for everyone. I guess the most common thing you hear when people fall in love is that they can’t think straight around the person, that they do things they normally wouldn’t to please that person, their heart races around them, things like that.” He explains. Keith nods silently and continues to eat his dinner. _

_      “Why do you ask? Are you in love with someone?” Shiro asks, leaning forward. _

_      “No, I was just curious about what it’s like so when I am, I know.” Keith retorts. _

 

     Keith finishes changing into his pajamas and looks at himself in the mirror. 

     “You have got to be fucking kidding me…” He mutters to himself. He walks back to Lance’s room, and the prince was still sitting there, hopefully looking at the door. A wide smile spreads across his lips.

     “You came back…” He says barely above a whisper.

     “Of course I did, you asked me to sleep in here. I’m not a monster.” Keith replies closing the door behind him. Lance scoots over in the bed making room for Keith and lifts the blanket so Keith can crawl in. Keith walks over to the bed and look at the space Lance has made for him. It reminds him of all the times that Shiro would put up with him and allow a younger Keith to sleep in his bed when he had a nightmare. Keith sat on the bed and slowly brought his feet up, and laid down on his side. Lance scoots down and turns to face Keith. 

     The two lay like that for what like an eternity silently staring at each other. Keith eventually breaks, unable to handle looking at Lance so up close.

     “Night.” He says, he could feel the blush roasting the tips of his ears.

     “Um, Keith. Before you go to sleep, I have a question.” Lance says. Keith turns slightly so he can see Lance again.

     “Could we cuddle?” He asks sheepishly. Keith’s eyes widen slightly at the request and he turns away. Lance starts to speak fumbling over his words thinking he’s said something wrong, but Keith is scooting backwards to be closer to Lance. 

     Lance stops stuttering and Keith hopes he gets it, so he doesn’t have to explain. He feels a hesitant arm wrap around his waist, and when Keith doesn’t protest and throw the arm off, it slowly turns into a hug. Now they’re cuddling.

     “Night Keith. And thank you…” Lance mutters letting out a yawn.

     “Night…” Keith whispers. Oh, he was so completely and utterly fucked. He’d gone and fallen in love with the ever charming, surprisingly real prince that he was supposed to kill to get his brother back.


	10. The Truth

     Keith wakes the next morning hoping that what happened last night was a dream and he did kill the prince. He stretches and feels the arm around his waist. He knows it’s Lance’s, and he knows he failed to kill him. He turns over to look at the prince, and sees him still sleeping. For a moment, Keith let’s himself forget for a moment that this is the man he’s being forced to kill. 

     ‘Maybe.. I should tell him. He’s a Prince after all… He’s got to have some way to help. Besides… it’s against the code to kill someone who hasn’t been assigned to you. I could lose everything. My job… my family…’ Keith rested his hand on Lance’s chest, feeling his heartbeat. He closes his eyes. This was the first time in the past two weeks that he’s been able to really think about the situation. Sure some woman and her partner or group was able to take Shiro, but that meant she knows Lance. If Keith were to say something, it’s not like she would know. Lance was a prince, who had money and power. He could help.

     Keith opens his eyes to see Lance looking back at him. He starts to pull his hand away, but Lance holds it there.

     “Good morning.” He says smoothly. Keith can already feel the blush creeping up his neck.

     “Morning…” He mumbles back.

     “How did you sleep?” Lance asks easily pulling Keith close. Keith gasps slightly at the sudden proximity. It had been a while since he’d been with someone like this.

     “I slept good. You? Any nightmares?” Keith asks, trying to act normal. Lance hums in response.

     “I slept good. I think you should sleep with me more often.” Lance says, snuggling close to Keith. Keith blinks. He stays silent for a moment.

     “I never asked, but what are those nightmares about?” Keith asks, finally breaking the silence. Lance pushes away from Keith to look at him.

     “It’s…. Stupid.” Lance responds. Keith shakes his head.

     “If it’s enough to make you want me to sleep with you, than it’s not stupid.” Keith responds easily. Lance looks away, thinking for a moment.

     “Okay, fine. You’re right, and you deserve to know, in case she ever comes back…” Lance begins. Keith looks at him in confusion.

     “Since Romelle and I are engaged, we both agreed that we could see who ever makes us happy. Since she’s really gay, I’m nowhere near her type, and we’re like family. So a year ago I was dating this woman. She… was obsessed with me. She would break into the castle at night and watch me sleep levels of obsessed. One day, almost a year into our relationship, I finally told her that I couldn’t marry her because I had to marry Romelle and she lost her mind. She told me that I had to break it off because she loved me, and she was the only person who could have me. She… didn’t take it well, and later that night she broke into the castle and… tried to kill me. She kept screaming ‘If I can’t have you, no one can!’ Thankfully a guard was around the corner and heard, because if he wasn’t I would’ve died. So they threw her out of the castle, brought her to the local police. But she’s crafty. No jail cell could ever keep her. The nightmares are about that night. The whole situation is the reason I wanted a personal guard. She said she’d hire an assassin to kill me if she had to. Anything it took.” Lance leaned his head to Keith’s chest. Keith’s eyes widened, thinking about the situation that he was in.

     “What does she look like?” Lance asks.

     “Well, brown hair, last I saw it was long, silver eyes. The most notable thing about her is the scar-”   
     “That goes from her left eye brow to her cheek?” Keith asks hesitantly. Lance pushes back and looks at Keith.

     “Yes… How did you know?” Lance asks, fear in his  eyes. Keith opens his mouth to speak and then pushes himself to sit up.

     “Alright, Lance I need to come clean about something.” Keith says. Lance sits up and looks at Keith.

     “What is it?” He asks slowly.

     “Two weeks ago, my brother got kidnapped. The person who took him left me a note telling me to kill you if I wanted to get him back alive. I didn’t believe it at first, my brother was… an assassin, and then a local guard. It’s not easy for someone to just get the jump on him. So I didn’t believe it, but then that night, a woman approached me, and she had that scar on her face, told me she was the one to kidnap my brother and that she was serious about wanting you dead. And since she took my brother I couldn’t refuse. So I found out about the position to be a royal guard, because my brother was thinking about taking it, and that’s why I’m here….” Keith confesses. He can’t look at Lance, he knows he’s mad, furious. That he’d kick him out or have him executed.

     “You were in here last night to try and kill me, weren’t you?” Lance asks. Keith looks at Lance, who’s looking at him with sad eyes. He nods.

     “But I couldn’t do it… You were sleeping so peacefully, and everything felt wrong…” Keith paused and ran his fingers through his hair.

     “I actually started to like you Lance. You’re my friend… and I couldn’t do it. You looked at me, and you were in pain.” Keith continues. Lance nods.

     “I just can’t believe she would go so far to try and kill me…” Lance finally speaks. Keith’s brow furrows.

     “I can’t believe she’d take your family to try and blackmail you into killing me…” Lance sighs and places a hand on Keith.

     “Keith, I’m not upset… Well, not with you at least. Look, I’ll help you find your brother. I hate that two people were dragged into this mess because I got mixed up with someone like that…” Lance laments.

     “Lance you don’t have to… this is my mess. I should’ve taken this to the association to get help rather than blindly rush into this. I mean it’s messed up to think that the only reason I’m here was because I needed to kill you. Lance that’s so fucked, how can you even look at me?” Keith asks. Lance moves closer to Keith.

     “You were honest with me Keith. Despite everything, how I think about you hasn’t changed. I know I can trust you. I wouldn’t stop because you were blackmailed in to trying to kill me. That’s not fair to anyone.” Lance explains. 

     “And more importantly, you shouldn’t bare this alone. This is just as much my concern as it is yours.” Lance says surely. Keith’s eyes twitch as they well up with tears. He nods.

     “Yeah, okay. Please help. I don’t know what to do…” Keith replies.


	11. The Plan

     Later that day, Lance called for a meeting with Allura, Pidge, and Hunk. They all met in the garden. Lance and Keith showed up late. Keith was too ashamed to show his face to everyone considering Lance was going to tell them the real reason that Keith was here. He didn’t want anyone to hate him for a rash decision he’d made in his drunken panic. Up to this point Keith spent the better part of the morning apologizing to Lance, not entirely sure if Lance was truly not upset with him, and answering all of Lance’s questions.

     When the two arrived at the garden, Allura crossed her arms. “Care to explain what was so important Lance? Father needs my help.” She says.

     “Silvia is back.” Lance says plainly. Keith watched as everyone became deathly serious.

     “Was she in the castle last night? Was Keith there to help?” Allura asked rushing to her brother. Lance shakes his head.

     “No it’s different than that. I have to explain some things, but I need you to sit down and promise not to freak out.” Lance says, resting his hands on Allura’s arms. She nods and takes a couple steps back to sit with the others.

     “I guess I should get straight to the point… Silvia kidnapped Keith’s brother to blackmail him into assassinating me. Keith told me everything, so don’t hate him. His brother is the only family he has, so the decision was impulsive. We need to help him rescue his brother, and officially do away with Silvia.” Lance explains. Keith does his best to stand tall, but when everyone looks at him, hurt and confused, all he can do is hang his head in shame.

     “I can’t kill Lance… it’s against everything I was raised on… Not to mention he’s been like a friend… and I don’t have any of those in my line of work.” Keith adds after Lance speaks. He looks up at everyone who’s expressions range from pity to anger. Allura opens her mouth, clearly about to chew out Keith like the protective older sister she is, but Hunk beats her to it.

     “It’s very brave that you told Lance the truth Keith. I don’t know what I’d do if anyone I cared about was kidnapped as blackmail.” Hunk says. Keith nods.

     “Thank you Hunk…” Allura sighs. Understanding the situation a little better. Keith really had no malicious intent. He was scared.

     “So, Silvia. How do we plan on dealing with her?” Allura asks.

     “Well, this is the difficult part… for me. I’m going to have Keith take me to her, beaten. He’s going to offer to make a trade, me for his brother. I’m going to need you guys to follow us as backup, so that things don’t go wrong. Allura, you can take Silvia. Pidge you get ahold of your brother so we have more hands for help. Hunk, Pidge, and Matt can take care of any associates. Keith and I will escape with his brother. After that, everything should be fine.” Lance explains. Everyone slowly takes in the plan.

     “You’d have to face her Lance. You’re terrified of her.” Pidge jumps in, a little hesitant.

     “I mean I have no problems seeing Allura cave Silvia’s face in, but I’m worried about you Lance.” She adds, swaying slightly.

     “Yeah, trust me I thought about that… but this is the only way Silvia will let Keith’s brother go, fair trade. Keith already knows what to say to her when we do this, I just need you guys behind us.” Lance says. He’s holding himself, physically he looks ill at the thought, but his face is strong, determined despite the fear.

     “Of course we’re behind you Lance. I’ve wanted to wipe that vile woman’s face off the e\Earth since I heard what she did to you.” Allura says. Her face scarily determined. Hunk and Pidge nod.

     “We’d rather be there to support you than leave you alone with her. If you think this is the best way of doing it, then we’ll stand by you.” Hunk says. Lance sighs.

     “Thank you guys so much. I know you probably can’t trust me, and I understand. I just want my brother back. I need him back.” Keith finally speaks. Lance puts a hand on Keith’s back, and Keith offers a smile.

     “So then it’s settled. Tonight, Keith is going to meet with Silvia, and offer for a trade rather than killing me. I’ll keep you posted.” Lance says to everyone. After that, the group slowly filed away leaving Keith and Lance alone in the garden.

     “Silvia… She really terrifies you, huh?” Keith asks quietly. Lance nods.

     “She wants me dead because she loves me. It’s twisted and terrifying. I can’t believe I loved her. I think that’s the worst part.” Lance explains sitting down.   
     “I won’t let her lay a hand on you. That’s a promise Lance.” Keith declares. Lance offers a small smile to Keith.

     “Thank you. But you’re not the only one who doesn’t plan on letting her hurt me.” Lance replies. After that the two fell into silence. Standing under the shade of the tree in the garden.

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

     That night, Keith left the castle after dinner, and walked to the town center. He spies the tavern, and walks over. Peering into the windows he spies Silvia talking to the same man she was the last time Keith met with her. He figured at this point it wasn’t a coincidence. He might be working with her. Keith walks into the tavern and over to her.

     “Step outside, we need to talk.” Keith says in a dark tone. He wanted to let her know he meant business. Silvia looks at him, whispers something to the man, and leaves him, following Keith outside.

     “This better be good. Is the Prince dead?” She asks in a whisper when they get outside.

     “No, there’s been a change of plans. Since you know I’m an assassin, you have to know that killing someone outside of an official contract means I get kicked out. Or even worse, since this is a Prince, I could lose my own life. So, if you want the Prince dead, you’re going to have to do it yourself.” Keith says. Silvia flares up in anger.

     “Have you forgotten that I have your brother-”

     “I want to amend our deal. Instead of my killing him, we trade. Tomorrow night I bring the Prince to the abandoned cabin outside of town, and you bring Shiro. I take Shiro and leave the prince with you, and it’s a win for both of us. You get to kill him, and I get my brother, and keep my own life.” Keith interjects. Silvia shuts her mouth, considering.

     “Fine. That’s reasonable. And I can be reasonable. Tomorrow night. Cabin outside town. I’ll be there after sun down. Be there before me, or the deal is off.” She says. Keith nods.

     “Then it’s settled. See you tomorrow night.” He says, turning and leaving her outside. When he gets back to the castle, Lance is sitting in his room reading a book. He hears his door open and looks up to see Keith.

     “How did it go? Did she agree?” He asks. Keith sits on the bed and nods.

     “Tomorrow night we’re gonna meet her just outside of town for the trade. It’s at a location where all your friends can hide while we make the trade.” Keith explains. Lance nods silently. He closes his book and looks down at his hands.

     “Could you sleep in here again tonight?” Lance asks nervously.

     “Yeah, of course.” Keith responds. This brings a gentle smile to Lance’s face. 

     “Well let’s get changed, we’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” Lance says, placing a hand on Keith. Keith nods in response. Tomorrow really was going to be a long day.


	12. Safe and Sound

     For the majority of the next day Keith and Lance were holed up in Lance’s room. Lance, despite saying a million times that he would be fine, was on edge the whole morning. The were currently sitting in Lance’s bed, Keith leaning against the headboard, Lance sitting in front of him resting against Keith’s chest. ‘I just need some motivational cuddles. That’s all. I’ll be fine.’ He had told Keith. He wasn’t. Keith could feel him shaking.

     “We can’t  _ not _ follow through with this Keith. It doesn’t matter if seeing my abusive ex is scaring me. She needs to be taken care of, and you need to get your brother back. No one else needs to get hurt.” Lance said when Keith pointed out the trembles. After that Keith didn’t bring it up Lance’s visible fear, choosing to distract him instead. It wasn’t very difficult, Lance seemed like he enjoyed listening to Keith speak in lieu of thinking about what they had to do.

     “What was your past like?” Lance asks suddenly as he slowly tears apart an outfit. He was preparing it so it looked like he put up a fight against Keith so Silvia didn’t get suspicious.

     “How do you mean?” Keith asks rolling over on the bed to sit up. Lance lifts his head from the vest he was fraying some edges on.

     “Your childhood and stuff. What was it like for you?” Lance clarifies. Keith makes a face. Not many people knew about his past. There was Kolivan, the leader of the assassination group who took him in, and Shiro, who became his family. He looks at Lance, who was clearly looking for a distraction. Keith sighs, and grabs a pillow to hold in his lap.

     “Not long after I was born, my mother left my father and I. My dad swore up and down that she did it to protect us, but that’s all he ever said. When I was eight my dad was killed by a man who was robbing a nearby home, because he tried to stop the man. I was orphaned after that, hopping from home to home. Nobody wanted me because I was a ‘problem child.’ It sucked. So then one day this man walks into the home that was fostering me and says he was there to take me. My foster parents didn’t bat an eye. So I get taken to this new home far outside of town, in like the foreign location. It was there I learned how to be an assassin. And where I met Shiro. My brother. He took me under his wing, invited me into his life. He wanted me to grow and succeed as much as he did so that I could have a future. Once I graduated, I was free to leave the home. Really I couldn’t stay because all graduates had to leave unless they wanted to be a teacher. Shiro was a teacher at this time, but he retired a few months before I graduated because he met someone. And as well as being an assassin pays, he was in love and didn’t want to be away from home on missions for an indeterminate amount of time randomly. So he asked me to move in with him after I graduated. And I did. And we’ve been happily living here since then. Occasionally I get assigned missions, but my life has kind of been put on hold since Shiro was kidnapped.” Keith explains. Lance looks at Keith astounded.

     “You’ve been through so much… you’ve lost both your parents. It’s no wonder why you want your brother back…” Lance observes. He looks down at his handiwork.

     “Also you aren’t some random person blackmailed to kill me… you’re actually a trained assassin… that’s..”

     “Terrifying?” Keith asks almost ashamed.

     “Kinda hot…” Lance admits. Keith’s face goes red at the admission.

     “How is that hot?” Keith asks incredulously.

     “I think anyone who is trained fully in a field is attractive.” Lance says with a shrug. Keith flops back on the bed in defeat. He was too embarrassed to look at Lance. He couldn’t understand how Lance could think being a trained assassin was attractive. Not to mention that indirectly Lance called Keith hot, and that did things to him. 

     About half an hour later, Lance has roughed himself up, and changed into his slightly torn clothes. Keith is waiting on Lance’s bed waiting for everyone to join them. There was a knock on the door and Lance opens it. Allura, Pidge, Hunk, and a newcomer, which Keith assumed was Pidge’s brother Matt, were all waiting on the other side, dressed in dark clothes per Keith’s request to make them harder to notice.

     “We’re ready.” Allura says. Lance looks to Keith who has stood and is walking toward them.

     “Then let’s go. We need to get there before her to set up.” Keith says. Everyone nods, and lets Keith lead the way.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------

 

     When they arrive to the cabin, Keith is already in leader mode. He sets up a chair in the middle of the floor and tells Lance to sit and wait while he positions the other three. It wasn’t hard, stash Pidge on a windowsill behind a curtain, Hunk behind a barrel and a couple burlap sacks by the door, Matt was outside in the bushes to make sure no one escaped, and Allura, upon her insistence, was hidden in a closet closest to Lance so she could get the jump on Silvia. Once everyone was place, Keith pulled out the sack, cloth, and rope he’d brought to tie Lance up.

     “Ready?” Keith asked. Lance nodded. So he gently ties the cloth in Lance’s mouth, puts the sack over his head, and ties his arms behind the back. He kept it loose with Lance also holding one end of the rope so he could pull it to escape if he needed to.

     “Alright now we wait for her. Pretend you unconscious.” Keith orders. Lance lets his head hang as if out cold, and the room falls silent. Keith paces around the room as he waits, watching from the window as the sun sets. ‘Silvia should be here soon, it’s almost dark.’ He asses. And sure enough, when the sun has disappeared from the sky, in walks Silvia, that man from the bar, and Shiro.

     Shiro is beaten, almost hollow, and exhausted. He sees Keith and weakly reaches for him. Keith moves for him on instinct, but Silvia steps in front of him.

     “Is that the Prince?” She asks. Keith glares at her.

     “Yes it is.”

     “Take of the sack, I want you to prove it.”

     “Fine, but he’s unconscious. Spiked his tea so he’ll be sleeping for a while.” Keith says. It was mostly a warning for Lance to close his eyes, and ‘play dead.’ Keith walks over and stands in front of Lance, pulling off the sack and dropping it to the floor. Lance is limp so when Keith steps to the side, his head continues to hang. Keith grabs Lance’s face by the cheeks and lifts his head to show Silvia.

     “See, your Prince. Now give me my brother.” Keith demands dropping Lance’s head. Silvia turns to the buff man behind her and he drops Shiro. Keith runs to his brother’s side and pulls him up and walks him to the door as Silvia hurries toward Lance.

     “Stay here.” He whispers and turns around. In an instant Allura bursts from the closet ambushing Silvia.

     “You vile bitch! Like I’d let you touch my brother again!” She screams in anger before Silvia can get close. Hunk and Pidge rush the buff guy, Hunk successfully pinning him from behind and Pidge swiftly knocking him out. Keith runs past them to Lance who is already pulling the rope from his hands, freeing himself. Keith pulls the cloth from his mouth and pulls Lance up. The two run past Hunk and Pidge who are swiftly moving to Allura’s aid in taking Silvia down. Lance and Keith hoist Shiro up, and bring him outside. Matt sits up from the bushes when he hears the door open.

     “Matt run ahead into town and get the local guards, tell them to come here so they can legally deal with our to unconscious, and potentially dead bad guys.” Lance says. Matt nods and jumps to his feet sprinting off.

     “We should take Shiro into town so he can see a doctor.” Keith says as they’re walking.

     “No I want him to get the best care, we should take him to the castle, the best doctor in the region works for us.” Lance counters. Keith nods, not bothering to question it, and the two slowly make their way back to the castle.

     Once there Lance calls for the maids to help get Shiro into a bedroom and to call the doctor to come help Shiro. Keith was so caught up in having Shiro back, safe and sound, that he barely registered as the man was plucked from his shoulders and quickly disappeared from his sight. Then the room was quiet. Keith turns to Lance.

     “Thank you…” He says quietly. And without a word Lance turns to embrace Keith, and weeps.

     “No. Thank you.”


	13. Brotherly Advice

     After that small encounter, Matt, Pidge, Hunk, and Allura returned to the castle. Silvia was dealt with. Lance wanted the details, but Keith didn’t really care. He had to go see if Shiro was going to be okay. So the two parted ways, Lance going with everyone to talk about what happened after he left, and Keith asked a maid to take him to his brother.

     When Keith was brought to the room, there was a female hovering around Shiro talking softly with him. She was dressed in plain clothes and wore a pair of glasses, so Keith assumed she was the doctor Lance told him about. She heard the door click shut.

     “Hi, you must be Keith. Shiro was just telling me about you.” She says walking around to shake his hand. Keith takes her hand, shaking it. He glances at Shiro, who is watching him closely.

     “Is he okay?” Keith asks. The doctor nods.

     “A little dehydrated, malnourished, but nothing some food and rest can’t take care of.” She explains. Keith nods in response.

     “Well, I’m going to head out and ask a maid to go to the kitchen and have a meal delivered to the room. If anything else comes up, don’t hesitate to have someone come get me.” She says as she leaves the room. Keith walks over to the chair set in the corner of the room and drags it beside the bed.

     “Sorry I took so long…” Keith says sitting down in the chair. Shiro laughs slightly and weakly pats Keith’s leg.

     “You saved me, that’s all that matters.” Shiro responds. Keith smiles at him.

     “You set the bar so low for me…” Keith complains, but he smiles. At least Shiro is awake. Shiro lets out another airy laugh.

     “The bar isn’t set low, I knew you’d come to get me, so there was nothing for me to worry about. You’re smart, and she was tricky so I knew it would take some time.” Shiro responds. Keith rolls his eyes.

     “Still sounds like a low bar to me.” Keith jokes. Shiro smiles.

     “You believe whatever you want. I believe what I want. Okay?” Shiro asks. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.” After that silence fell in the room. Keith waited for Shiro to formulate the questions he knew were rattling in his head. First of all he had to be curious as to why he was in the royal castle. Keith knew he would if he was in the situation. Keith also wanted to ask Shiro about how Silvia knew about Keith. How she knew the two of them were related, but he wanted to wait until Shiro was better before getting into that.

     “So uh… The castle, huh? Did you have friends here the whole time? And you were going to make me go through the who hiring process without putting in a good word?” Shiro jokes. Keith laughs.

     “No, I uh… Started working here a couple weeks ago. Since Silvia had you, I figured the best way to get close the Prince was through being a knight. Little did I fucking know I’d end up as his personal guard.” Shiro looks at Keith a little surprised.

     “So you panicked, and instead of taking it The Blade, to Kolivan, you studied to be a knight? And got hired?” Shiro asks. Keith sheepishly nods. It sounded so… wrong when Shiro said it like that. I mean it was what happened, Keith was impulsive under pressure. Shiro smiles.

     “Stole my dream job from right underneath my nose.” He mutters. Keith looks at him and sees the smile on Shiro’s face, so he knew it was a joke, that his brother was teasing him.

     “If it’s a problem, I could easily quit. I mean, I haven’t formally left The Blade, and I’m not really interested in two jobs. Especially considering that you’re safe now.” Keith says plainly with a shrug.

     “Well that won’t do at all.” Allura’s voice called from the door. Keith and Shiro look up at her, Keith looking like a deer in the headlights.

     “Princess… How are- um…. What are you doing here?” Keith asks.

     “Well Lance wanted to know how your brother was doing, but was too nervous to come in because he didn’t want to be rude and interrupt something. So I came, and what’s this about you leaving?” She asks pulling her hands to her hips.

     “Lance really likes you. I don’t think he’d blindly trust anyone else like he does you. I can’t possibly see him hiring someone else.” She further explains.

     “Well, Shiro needs the job more than I do, seeing as I have one already. And I’m sure him and Lance would get along great. Shiro has big brother slash father vibes.” Keith responds.

     “Well if Shiro needs the job, I’ll hire him as my own personal guard, if he can prove himself worthy in a battle with me of course, truly anything to keep you by my brother’s side.” Allura says crossing her arms. If Keith didn’t know better it would sound like Allura was begging.

     “Princess I don’t know why you’re so fixated on me staying with Lance. Silvia is gone, his biggest threat no longer exists. I’m not needed.” Keith tries. Truth be told, he was afraid of staying around Lance, having to confront his growing feelings for the Prince.

     “Because… Because when he’s with you he’s happy Keith. Lance doesn't have many friends. Most of them being people he grew up with because of the castle life. Don’t get me wrong, I love Pidge, Hunk, and Romelle, and all they’ve done for him, but… I’m not quite sure how to put it… You’re different. He’s different around you. A different kind of happy I haven’t seen in a long time. It’s like he’s at peace. It sounds like the ramblings of a crazy older sister, I know. But you must believe me.” She says. Keith opens his mouth to speak, but hesitates. He turns back to Shiro, seeing the questioning look on his face, then turns back to the Princess. 

     “Can I just have a moment to talk with my brother, please?” He asks. Allura nods, and silently leaves the room. Once the door clicks shut, Keith turns back to Shiro and slumps in his chair, letting out a sigh. His face was slightly pink.

     “So… do you want to talk about it?” Shiro asks. Keith blinks a couple times and sits up slightly.

     “So… I think I like Lance. Which is bad because he’s a Prince, and engaged, so I don’t have a chance anyway. So I want to get out as soon as possible so I don’t have to deal with heartbreak and rejection.” Keith blurts out. Never one to beat around the bush with Shiro.

     “Ahhh.... that explains it….” Shiro responds.

     “Yeah it… does make things weird if I stay. So, why bother?” Keith says with a shrug, pulling his legs close to his chest. 

     “Why bother? Well I could’ve said the same thing about Adam. With all our ups and downs, it was difficult sometimes. But we’ve both made each other so happy. We’ve done so much just to have our life together. So why bother? Because one day you’ll see it was worth it.” Shiro advises. Keith sighs, not really liking the advice because it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

     “You may not like it Keith, but trust me heartbreak is better than regret. If you get your heartbroken you can move on. Regret always lingers.” Shiro says. Keith sighs again, a little more dramatically because Shiro was right.

     “Besides, you have to admit being a knight is kind of fun. Not as much running around and instead of being paid to take lives, you protect them. It’s so much more rewarding.” Keith chuckles a little, letting his head fall back against the chair.

     “You’re right…” Keith finally says after a moment of silence.

     “It definitely is a dream job by comparison.” He adds lifting his head to look at Shiro. Shiro smiles at him.

     “So will you consider staying? Maybe temporarily leaving The Blade to see if the life is really meant for you?” Shiro asks. Keith lets his head loll to the side in consideration.

     “I mean, what’s there to lose. I just tell Kolivan I need a break, try some different avenues and I’ll update him when I know.” Keith says.

     “Exactly. Besides. It gives you the chance to try and pursue romance. Something you haven’t thought about since you were… what… 16?” Shiro teases. Keith groans.

     “Alright, first of all, I don’t think he’s even interested in me like that. Second of all, I don’t even want to think about that.” Keith replies. Shiro laughs.

     “Alright, that’s fair. But I do think you should say something to the Princess so she doesn’t get mad at you.” Shiro says. Keith nods.

     “You’re right. Last thing I need is her wanting me to leave.” Keith pushes himself to his his feet, stretches slightly and walks to the door.

     “You should try and get some rest while you wait for your food.” He suggests. Shiro gives Keith a thumbs up, having already turned away from him to face the wall. Keith breaths some air through his nose, and leaves the room. Allura was just at the end of the hall talking with a couple guards. Keith walks over to her calmly, and when she notices him, she dismisses the guards.

     “So?” She asks softly.

     “I’m going to take a break and see if Lance really needs me or not. If I don’t think I’m doing much to help him I’ll return to being an assassin, and stay his friend.” Keith explains. Allura nods.

     “I do think you’ll like it a here a lot more now that your brother is safe and you’re not keeping the secret plot to kill my brother to yourself.” She teases. Keith scoffs slightly at the comment.

     “That sounds like a perfectly reasonable plan.” Allura commends.

     “I do hope that you stay. Like I said, Lance is different around you. I want him to stay that way. Besides, I think I finally got used to seeing your grumpy face every day.” She says with a smile. Keith laughs.

     “Princess, if this is some ploy to try and date me I’m going to have to politely decline in advanced. I’m only interested in men.” Keith says with a laugh.

     “Me? Interested in you? Keith, while you are an attractive male, you’re not my type.” She says smiling.

     “Oh, so who is your type? Shiro? Because he’s gay as well…” Keith says with a smirk. Allura shakes her head.

     “Women.” She says plainly. Keith snorts.

     “Don’t laugh. It’s the truth. It’s why I won’t agree to marry any of the men my father and mother have introduced me to.” She explains.

     “Then why not marry Romelle? Her and Lance clearly aren’t interested in being forced together.” Keith says.

     “Wait… they aren’t?” Allura asks.

     “Yes, haven’t they told you? They act like brother and sister, not future wife and husband.” Keith says. Allura look briefly dumbfounded.

     “Thank you for this chat Keith, but I must head off. Royal business to attend to and what have you.” She says before hurrying off. Keith stares dumbfounded in her direction, but then shrugs not really interested what craziness is going on inside her head. He turns and heads back to Shiro’s room feeling a little more relaxed.


	14. My Foul Mouthed Prince

     A week has passed since Shiro was rescued. In that time Shiro had finally recovered for the most part and, despite the good doctor’s orders, began training so he could prove himself to Allura. He hadn’t the slightest clue what he was getting himself in for, seeing as Keith did fight Allura and it ended in a draw. Shiro did have a small advantage that Keith lacked, which was muscle mass, so Allura may have some trouble with that, but he had no doubts in his mind that she would hold her own against Shiro well.

     Keith was standing across Shiro, the two had wooden training swords in their hands, Shiro calmly instructing Keith as they trained together. Shiro insisted that if Keith was going to maybe be a knight, he should at the very least learn how to use the proper gear and know how to fight like one. Keith didn’t really care and figured it was mostly for Shiro to have a fair sparring partner, seeing as over half the guard was too scorned to fight him again and the other half too afraid to try. 

     So after a duel, that Shiro cut short due to Keith now knowing most of his skills and how to best him, Shiro stretches for a bit and then puts the wooden sword in the bin with the rest. Keith follows him, doing some stretches of his own after.

     “I think I’ll be good to take the Princess on by the end of the week, what do you think?” Shiro asks. Keith stands and looks up at Shiro.

     “I think you’re crazy for not listening to the doctor when she told you to take it easy.” Keith retorts. Shiro laughs.

     “Keith you know me. I’m feeling great. I rested for days, only getting out of bed to use the bathroom. It was suffocating. I needed to do something.” He says placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder.

     “While that’s true, I’m still upset.” Keith says shrugging Shiro’s arm off. Shiro looks at Keith, fake pain crossing his features.

     “Oh Keith, you wound me. I’ve done nothing wrong.” He says dramatically. Keith rolls his eyes.

     “Sure, whatever. And I think you’ll do fine against the Princess. At the very least it will end in a draw and she’ll see you as an equal. So you’ve got that going for you.” Keith says curtly as he turns on his heel to head back into the castle. Lance was meeting with Romelle today and asked Keith to accompany them around town, so he had to shower and dress in his armor.

     “Thank you!” He hears Shiro call as he walks away. Keith shakes his head, and is accompanied by a maid as he walks inside. She offers to hold his things while he prepares to shower, and Keith kindly thanks her and says that he’ll be fine. The maid seems slightly lost at this so Keith sighs and says that when they get to his room she can take his dirty clothes to the wash and pull out a nice outfit for him to wear as he accompanies Romelle and Lance to the market. Her small round face brightens at that, and the two walk in silence the rest of the way.

     After Keith finished his shower, he walked into his room and saw the outfit laid out nicely on his bed. He smiles to himself. The maids were definitely something. They’d been fawning over him as of late, so it was weird to have so many people willing to wait on him. He pulls the towel from his waist, moving it to dry his hair. He turns to walk over to his bureau when he spots Lance sitting on a chair, smiling wide, a blush lightly dusting his cheeks.

     “Why hello Mister Kogane…” He says. Keith immediately pulls the towel to cover his crotch.

     “Lance what the hell? When did you get here?” Keith asks incredulously.

     “You were in the shower, so I decided to wait. I came to tell you that Romelle and I weren’t going to go the the market any more, per Allura’s request to speak with her. So it’ll be just you and me.” Lance says as he crosses his leg.

     “And that couldn’t have waited until after I showered?” Keith asks, furious blush creeping over his cheeks. Lance shrugs.

     “I suppose it could, but then where’s the fun in that?” Keith groans. He turns from Lance not caring if the Prince saw his bare ass, and starts pulling on his clothes.

     “I do have to say Kogane, you will not be disappointing the man you end up with…” Lance says. Keith turns his head so fast, he’s sure it could’ve snapped.

     “Look I know you’ve got a dirty mouth, but could you, maybe I don’t know, not say things like that?” Keith groaned, Lance throws his head back in laughter. Keith grabs a pillow and throws it at the Prince. Lance lets out a yelp when the pillow hits his chest.

     “Hey! I’m not saying anything so bad! You’re easy on the eyes is all. And well endowed, but I guess you don’t want to hear me say that.” Lance says averting his eyes.

     “Uhh… yeah! Jeez, you’re a Prince! Why do you says things like this?” Keith mutters to himself, aggressively tucking in his shirt. He hears Lance mutter something behind him, and once his shirt is properly tucked he turns to face him.

     “What are you muttering over there?” He asks, leaning against his mattress.

     “Nothing you would want to hear.” Lance says, suggestive smile on his face. Keith rolls his eyes.

     “Cannot believe you....” He mutters. Lance laughs a little bit, but doesn’t say anything else. Rather he just silently watches Keith stuff his feet into his socks, and then into his boots, and then pull on his armor. Keith leaves Lance’s view when he steps behind the screen to a mirror to brush his hair and pull it back into a ponytail.

     “I’m ready to escort you to the market ‘My Prince.’” Keith says walking back into view. Lance chuckles as he stands from his chair and walks past Keith, eyeing him suggestively. Keith is completely clueless as to what’s gotten into Lance all of the sudden. He’s never acted like this around him before. He’s usually polite and patient. Doesn’t tease Keith nearly as aggressively as he was just now. They walk out of the room and to the front hall where Allura stands with Romelle. They two stand holding hands as Romelle nods excitedly at whatever Allura is saying, and then she squeaks happily jumping up to wrap her arms around Allura’s neck. Lance, out of curiosity walks over to the two, so Keith follows.

     “What’s going on with you two?” He asks. Romelle turns to Lance and smiles happily.

     “You’re sister just asked me to marry her!” Romelle says happily. Lance, shocked, turns to Allura.

     “Well, I have been interested in Romelle for quite some time, but since father arranged your marriage, I didn’t bother. But recently Keith told me that you two weren’t actually interested in each other, I thought maybe Romelle would like to marry me instead, and lo and behold she’s liked me for quite some time as well.” Allura explains. Romelle leans against her happily.

     “This is so exciting. We should tell your parents Allura.” Romelle says. Allura nods.

     “Well I hope the two of you have a great time at the market. Romelle and I have somethings to attend to, seeing as we’re now engaged.” Allura says smiling. Romelle nods and wave goodbye to the two of them as her and Allura disappear from view. Keith turns to face Lance.

     “So how does it feel to be a truly single man?” Keith teases. Lance turns to Keith and smiles.

     “Freeing… I didn’t think not having to marry Romelle would bring this much joy, but it does. I’m so happy I could kiss somebody!” Lance claims. Keith takes a step back, seeing as he was the only person around Lance at the moment.

     “Aw, don’t be a party pooper Keith, just one kiss won’t hurt.” Lance says stepping forward.

     “I don’t kiss people with dirty mouths.” Keith retorts side stepping Lance and walking past him to the front door.

     “Are we going to the market or not? I did put on my nice clothes after all.” Keith almost demands, pushing the door open. Lance looked at Keith completely offended by his remark.

     “My mouth isn’t dirty!” He exclaims.

     “Need I remind you of the incident that  _ just _ went down in my bedroom?” Keith says rather unamused. Lance huffs.

     “Whatever, let’s just go to the market.”


	15. Regret

     As time passes, Keith slowly learns that it’s harder to ignore his feelings for Lance. The Prince is odd, but in a cute way. He’s very competitive about the dumbest things, which Keith can’t help but love. He still had nightmares, so there were several nights a week Keith either woke up to Lance crawling into bed with him, or Lance just asking for the company. Lance seemed to rely on Keith a lot more now, even with Silvia gone. He was always looking to Keith for advice and even wanted his opinions on a lot of his princely duties. That confused Keith, because he really only had his opinions of what he thought a Prince should be doing, or what he thought Lance’s parents wanted him to do.

     Still, Keith was hesitant to say anything about his feelings for Lance. He was, after all, just a knight to his parents, and also a trained assassin. On the off chance Lance even felt the same, there was no way they’d approve of their relationship because of his status.

     So Keith started getting stuck in his own thoughts. Lance didn’t like Keith, he was being his version of friendly, which included sharing a bed, Lance sometimes holding Keith’s hand when they were alone, and cuddling often. He’d seen Lance act that way plenty of times with Romelle, who was one of his oldest friends. Also he’d seen a lot of the physical interactions with Hunk, another good friend of Lance, who he says ‘is the best huger in the kingdom.’ Besides, Keith wasn’t good enough to be with Lance. He still couldn’t forgive himself for agreeing to kill the man. He couldn’t convince himself that a part of Lance, no matter how friendly, was afraid of Keith.

     Unintentionally he stops hanging out with Lance as often. He spends a lot of time training with Shiro, who plans to be Allura’s guard in a couple days. Chooses to wander the castle at night, and sleep on Shiro’s couch, even though he moved back into the house a few days ago. He wakes up early to avoid seeing Lance at breakfast, and then goes out to train until lunch, and then from lunch until dinner he spends a couple hours with Lance. Clearly Lance is upset. He’s asked Keith on many occasions if Keith was avoiding him. Keith lies, and says that he’s just working through some things, and that it’s nothing to do with Lance, even though it’s everything to do with Lance.

     One night it hits Keith just how bad he’s being to Lance when he’s making his now usual rounds of the castle and he passes by Lance’s room. He hears frustrated groans.

     “I just don’t get it Allura, we were friends, but now he barely sees me. Do you think I did something wrong?” Lance speaks practically yells, clearly frustrated. Keith leans against the wall beside the door to listen.

     “No Lance. Keith knows how you act, and wasn’t bothered by it until, what? Two weeks ago? What could you have done to make him act so coldly?” She says.

     “Well I did see him naked, and made some pretty untasteful comments about him, while he was naked. It wasn’t like I was rude to him or anything. He’s well built, and well endowed. Just thought he should know.” Allura sighs.

     “Well, that is pretty untasteful. Especially for friends, but that doesn’t justify his behavior. You should confront him about it! Make him talk. Make him apologize. And if he wants some kind of an apology for your dirty mouth, then I’d give it to him. He deserves that at the very least.” There’s a moment of silence in the room, neither sibling speaks.

     “Do you think he likes me?” Lance finally asks. Allura makes a soft noise in response.

     “What brought this up?” She asks.

     “Well, I’m just trying to figure out what it could be, you know? And you’re right. It wasn’t until after I said all the weird things to Keith that he started acting like this. So it’s one of two things: He likes me, or he’s not interested in me like that and I made things weird by saying those things.” Lance explains.

     “And I’m assuming you’d want him to like you?” She says in a suggestive tone. Lance sighs.

     “Yeah. I want him to like me Allura. Things are just easier around him. He… I don’t know… Complete’s me? It sounds stupid, but before all this, after Silvia… we became so close. It was like we barely needed to communicate to each other because we just knew. He has a sixth sense for when I’m not going to sleep well. When we’re in the market he knows just what I’m looking for with a short, kind of crappy description… his presence relaxes me. And I don’t feel like I have to be a Prince around him, like most everyone else. Being with him is freeing.” Lance explains. Keith goes red in the face, and can no longer listen to the two talk. He’s really fucked up.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------

 

     The next evening Keith is actually in bed after he showers, which shocks Lance. He’d been sleeping in Keith’s room, hoping that he’d catch the man for about a week now, and while the room reminded Lance of Keith what he really wanted was his presence. 

     So there Keith sat, polishing the karambit knives Lance got him over a month ago. He looks up when he hears Lance’s soft ‘oh’ of surprise. Keith doesn’t say anything and puts them on his nightstand, in their box, and scoots over on the bed for Lance to crawl in. So Lance does. They sit next to each other in silence for a bit, and then Lance lies down, staring at the ceiling.

     “I’m sorry-” The two say in unison. They look at each other in shock, Lance opens his mouth to speak, but Keith beats him to it.

     “Lance you have nothing to apologize for. I was avoiding you, and that was a dick thing of me to do. I know you can say some pretty raunchy things sometimes, but that’s just you when you finally get the chance to relax from all you’re princely duties. And it’s not like anything you said was wrong, or upsetting. It made me a little uncomfortable sure, but you were also looking at my naked body. I think anyone would be.” Keith rambles. Lance smiles, and lets out a sigh.

     “So… are we good then?” He asks. Keith lays down beside Lance and pulls Lance close, cuddling him like he normally did before they went to sleep.

     “Yeah… we are.” Keith affirms.

     “Good. I hate not being able to sleep at night. It makes me cranky and unbearable.” Lance comments.

     “You’re unbearable anyway…” Keith roasts. Lance turns to face Keith, completely offended.

     “Rude!” He yells. Keith laughs softly, a rare thing for Lance to witness.

     “I was kidding, calm down.” Lance just huffs in response.

     “You’re just lucky I like you Kogane, I could have you thrown in the dungeon.” Lance teases.

     “Yeah, but you won’t”

     “You’re right. But I could!” And with that, the two talked for about an hour, before Keith noticed Lance was starting to drift off.

     “Night Lance.” He whispers. Lance hums in response, thankful for sleep to finally come.


	16. Finally

     From then on things improved between Keith and Lance. Keith was trying his best to show Lance in subtle ways his true feelings for the prince. Lance seemed to be catching on to the softer touches. The longer looks. And ever present, the sexual tension. Whenever the two were in a room together the tension is so palpable, Allura actually had enough one day.

     It’s lunch time. Allura sits with Shiro to her right and Pidge to her left. Next to Pidge is Hunk, next to Shiro is Keith and right across from Allura is Lance. The entire time Lance and Keith are feeding each other, and eyeing the other suggestively as the fork slide free from their mouth. It took about ten minutes of that nonsense to break Allura.

     “If you two could get a room so we can eat lunch in peace that would be lovely.” She throws out harshly. Pidge snorts almost choking on her food, and Hunk turns to her aid. Shiro covers his mouth to hide his laughter. Keith and Lance are a little caught off guard by the outburst, and immediately pull apart from each other.

     “Allura- what are you talking about?” Keith tries hesitantly. Was he really being obvious?

     “Oh please Keith, you can’t play dumb with me. For the past week the two of you have been uncomfortably inseparable, and it’s almost sickening. Just kiss him, sleep with him, I don’t care! Whatever it takes so that the six of us can have normal lunches together without your tension mucking it up.” She retorts. Pidge had finally recovered enough to join Shiro in laughter. Keith side eyes Lance who is blushing profusely. He opens his mouth to speak, but the words die on his tongue and he just starts eating his own lunch silently. Lance joins him, and Hunk sighs rubbing circles into Pidge’s back because she’s coughing through her laughter. Shiro lets out a small cough to try and curb his laughter.

     “Well… since we’ve got that in order… Princess, are you going to need me to accompany you on the trip to visit Romelle tonight? Or shall I leave the two of you alone so you have some privacy?” Shiro asks calmly trying to remain level. Allura thinks for a moment.

     “This is a trip I’ve made a thousand times myself. So if you wish to take the night off and go home to Adam, you may.” She says calmly. Shiro nods.

     “Thank you Princess.” The silence that followed was deafening. No one had really recovered from Allura calling out Keith and Lance, and Shiro’s little conversation with Allura did nothing to amend it. So everyone finished their lunch, Pidge and Hunk scurried back to the kitchen mentioning that the two of them planned on visiting the Holt’s that evening for dinner, and Shiro walked Allura back to her room, leaving Lance and Keith alone at the table.

     “That was… embarrassing.” Keith says plainly. There wasn’t much more to say about the situation. Allura had confronted the two on their feelings for eachother, making it rather obvious about where their hearts lie. 

     "Embarrassing isn’t even the half of it…” Lance groans slightly resisting his head on the table. Moments later servants descended upon the table cleaning it of the dirty dishes and left over food, collecting it, and leaving them alone once again. Keith sighs, he supposed that there was no reason to keep his feelings to himself. 

     “Well either way, let’s head inside. I think it’s going to rain soon.” Keith says standing from his chair. He sets his hand onto Lance’s shoulder and Lance nods. The two walk side by side into the castle, silence hanging between them. Keith just needed to get to the quiet of Lance’s room, and maybe then he could muster the courage to tell him how he felt. They pass through the kitchen to see the servants bustling about, though the main hall where Shiro and Allura talk quietly to themselves. Shiro offers a soft smile to Keith, and turns back to Allura to continue their conversation.

     The two walk up the main stairway which led to the bedrooms and Keith can finally see Lance’s door. He takes a few steps ahead of Lance so he can get to the door first. When he reaches the door, he opens it and steps aside letting Lance walk in first. Lance, per usual, walks to his bed and plops down. Keith follows Lance into the room and closes the door behind him and then walks over to the couch and sprawls out on it, leaning against the arm. Keith stares at the ceiling for a moment, contemplating how he should go about confessing. At this point it must be obvious, but neither had a move, so they’ve stagnated in this weird flirty phase. Keith hears a slight groan and some shuffling from Lance, so he looks to see what the Prince is up to. Lance is currently sitting and looking at Keith, a determined look in his eyes. Keith glances to the side, a little concerned.

     “What’s up Lance?” He asks. Lance suddenly stands and walks over to Keith.

     “Stand up.” He demands. Keith quirks an eyebrow up at Lance, but does as he’s ordered. Lance walks closer the grabs Keith by the front of his shirt pulling them flush and then snakes a hand around his neck pulling Keith into a kiss. Keith is momentarily caught off guard by the kiss, not expecting Lance to be so forward. Lance pulls away and glances from Keith’s lips to his eyes. Keith does the same with his eyes and then Lance pulls him into another kiss, this time Keith was prepared and pressed his lips back. When they part Lance pulls their foreheads together, breathing.

     “So, if it wasn’t obvious now, I like you. A lot.” He says, Keith smiles.

     “Cool. I like you too.” He replies. Lance laughs a little.

     “God, we are terrible.” He says pulling apart to look at Keith. Keith nods.

     “I mean this is my first real confession, so I have nothing to compare it to.” He replies. Lance blushes.

     “So was that your first kiss?” He asks hesitantly.

     “Yes and no. I’m an assassin. I’ve lost a lot of firsts to the job, but it’s the first time I’ve kissed someone I like.” Keith explains. Lance snorts.

     “Of course.” Is all he says in response. Keith looks offended.

     “What’s that supposed to mean?” He asks.

     "It means of course you’d try make our kiss special. You’re cute Kogane.” Lance says. Keith sighs.

     “I will never understand you loverboy.” Keith says resting his hands on Lance’s hips.

     “You will eventually.” Lance replies pulling Keith into another kiss.


	17. The Romance You’ve Been Waiting For

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This baby has some good old smut in it, finally it earns the rating I gave it

     The next day Lance was the first to wake. The sun shone bright through the curtains that the maids had pulled open. There was quiet murmurs as the door clicked shut, and Lance sat up looking around. On the table his and Keith’s clothes were laid out, as per usual. He stretched his arms and rubbed his eyes. He looked beside him and smiled. Usually Keith was up by now, out training before they ate breakfast together. He was gorgeous, skin pale, hair sprawled out like a raven halo. There was no stress on his features for one, and it was a true moment of vulnerability. Lance wasn’t sure why he’d never noticed it before. He leans over, running a hand down Keith’s arm until their hands overlapped, and he intertwined their fingers. He didn’t want to ruin the moment, the raw beauty before him, but they should wake up. It wouldn’t be too long before the other’s returned, and Lance wanted to enjoy the time alone in the castle that they had.

     He starts pressing kisses to Keith’s cheek, but it has no affect. He tries nudging him, he gets a small groan, but nothing else. Lance smiles to himself. He actually liked waking up before Kieth. He wasn’t aware that the raven was such a heavy sleeper. He turns Keith slightly pressing a kiss to his lips. He’d be lying if he’d said that it was a dumb little dream of his to kiss a lover awake, but it usually never worked. Keith’s eyes twitch, and then open and Lance smiles down at Keith, who returns it.

     “Morning handsome.” Keith says through a stretch. Lance chuckles.

     “Morning gorgeous.” Lance responds. Keith takes a hand and pulls Lance into a kiss. They stay like that for a moment, enjoying the pressure, the slight movement. Lance lets a hand glide into Keith’s hair, playing with it gently. Keith lets out a hum of appreciation, but gently pushes Lance away.

     “What’s wrong?” Lance asks. Keith shakes his head.

     “Nothing I promise. I just really like it when people play with my hair.”

     “If you like it why did you push me away?” Lance asks confused. Keith starts to blush.

     “Because I like it in a not-so-innocent way. Duh, Lance.” Keith retorts, trying and failing to hide his embarrassment with mild annoyance. It was now Lance’s turn to go red.

     “In a sexual way?” He asks almost dumbfounded at the concept. Keith groans and hides his face because he didn’t want to answer that question. Of course in a sexual way, what other way could that be taken.

     “Oh…” is all Lance says. Then there was silence. Keith peaks out to look at Lance who looked like he was deeply considering something, opening and closing his mouth like he was trying to speak.

     “What?” Keith asks. Lance’s head shoots up as he looks at Keith.

     “Nothing really-” Lance’s stomach growls then, and he smiles sheepishly.

     “Let’s get up and get dressed. I’m hungry, if you couldn’t tell.” He says. Keith rolls his eyes. Appreciating the change of subject.

     “Please. I’m starving.” He exaggerates in a response. Lance chuckles and crawls out of bed and walks to his clean clothes to change, tossing his pajamas back at Keith who had just sat up in bed.

     “Hey!” He yells, laughing. Lance smiles to himself as he pulls on the outfit.

     “What? I didn’t do anything…” He lies. Keith stands from the bed tossing Lance’s clothes down, and stalks over to him.

      “Why you-” He says with a smile as he corners Lance into a kiss.

 

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     Several months later, and Keith and Lance were still happily together. Lance never stopped thinking about the little bit of information Keith gave him about his hair. Sometimes he’d watch Keith tie it up before training, or he’d register his fingers twitching when Keith combed it out, but never really acted on it. He was curious to find out what Keith would do if he did, but didn’t have the heart so early on in their relationship to try something sexual.

     So when Romelle and Allura married and took a vacation, Lance was starting to see an opportunity arise. Keith and Lance had been together for roughly six months, their anniversary being next week, and obviously Lance had plans to do something special for his partner. It was going to start with a romantic dinner, and if Lance played his cards right, hopefully their first time making love. For clarification, Lance didn’t need sex to be happy with Keith, the raven haired man did plenty in their day to day lives that warmed his heart and soul, but he did want to take their relationship further, so this was the only natural progression. Not to mention that Keith was starting to become a deviant in the bedroom when they were left alone, and knew just how easily Lance could get worked up before leaving him high and dry.

     The castle was empty by mid afternoon. Allura and Romelle had left, Shiro was also taking a vacation and was happily at home with Adam, Pidge was out traveling the country with her brother on some kind of scientific plant adventure, and Hunk was with Shay, his fiancee that he’d been keeping secret for the past year, so they actually had some alone time for their anniversary. Lance was quietly sneaking around the castle whispering requests to the maids and butlers to help prepare a romantic dinner while Keith busied himself in the library, reading just about any book that caught his fancy rather than training for once. Keith only emerged when he was hungry and in search of dinner. Lance beamed at his partner, saying that dinner would be ready as soon as the maids came and got them so Keith settled against the desk as Lance did some work.

     “Do you know what today is?” Keith asks slowly. Lance hadn’t mentioned anything today about their anniversary because he was a little too focused on the surprise dinner.

     “Of course I do. It’s our six month anniversary. How could I forget?” Lance replies turning in his chair to face Keith. Keith smiles at Lance, happy that the brunette said the words.

     “Well I got you something…” Keith starts, Lance looks at him mildly surprised.

     “You got me something? When? We’ve been together all week…” Lance asks. Keith smiles in response. 

     “You didn’t really think I was in the library reading all day did you?” Keith asks. Lance suddenly feels dumb because, yes he did think that, and no he didn’t really bother to check because he was a little tied up planning a grand romantic dinner for the two of them. Keith snorts a little.

     “Wow you actually did…” He says almost in disbelief. Lance pouts.

      “I’ve been busy okay? So what if I didn’t question you spending the better half of the day in the library?” He pouts. Keith throws his head back in a laugh. Lance smiles. Keith doesn’t laugh like that often, but it’s one of his favorite laughs.

      “Alright that’s fair. Anyway, uh… here’s your gift. Happy six month anniversary.” He says with a small blush growing on his cheeks. He holds out a small box and Lance takes it hesitantly. It was too soon to be a proposal, and the box didn’t look like it held a ring, so Lance sheepishly took hold of the lid and pulled it off. Inside the box was a delicately placed crystal necklace. The crystal was red on one side, and slowly faded into purple.

      “It’s half of a pair.” Keith says pulling another crystal necklace he had around his neck free from his shirt. This one was blue and faded to purple.

      “They reminded me of us, so I bought them.” He says, blush very apparent now. Lance smiles and takes the necklace out of the box and puts it on. He glances down and the necklace as it sits on his chest then stands to kiss Keith.

      “I love it. I love you, god I love you so much. Happy anniversary.” Lance manages between kisses. Keith smiles happily into the kisses, gently cupping Lance’s cheek. Suddenly a knock rings from the door.

      “My lords, dinner is ready.” A soft voice calls out. Lance smiles at Keith.

     “Well now it’s time for my anniversary present.” Lance says excitedly. Keith quirks a brow, but is led by Keith out of the room and to a new area behind the castle Lance never showed him. It was a small clearing in the forest on top of a hill where the moon and stars are encompassed in the clearing of the trees. Keith looked around excitedly, taking in the beautiful sight before him and when he glanced at Lance he noticed that he had moved to a table where he assumed dinner was set. Lance was smiling at Keith, waiting behind a chair, so Keith walks over and sits in the seat, and watches Lance walk around to the other side and they begin to eat, lovingly looking at each other the whole time.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

     After dinner was finished and cleaned away the two lovebirds walked hand in hand back to Lance’s room. It was already late when they went out to eat dinner, now it was time to retire to the bedroom. Lance pulls open his door and gestures for Keith to enter, then follows him in once the raven haired male has stepped passed the door.

     “That was a romantic dinner Lance, was that what you were so busy planning all day?” Keith asks as he hears the door click shut behind him. Lance blushes as he nods.

     “I really wanted to do something nice. We haven’t really had much time alone with Allura and Romelle’s wedding, so since everyone is gone for once I wanted to take advantage of that.” He admits. Keith smiles and walks to Lance, wrapping his arm around the brunette’s neck.

     “You’re so damn precious, I love you so much.” Keith declares. Lance laughs a little and steals a kiss.

     “I love you too.” And with that the two are in a passionate make-out session. Lance wasn’t really thinking as they kissed. Keith’s hands slipped down to rest on his chest, his arms took purchase on Keith’s shoulders, and he slowly pushed Keith to the bed. They moved like they both knew what was coming, a silent submission to what the night had in store. Keith sits on the edge of the bed, and Lance straddles him. He begins to unbutton Keith’s shirt, and Keith does the same for him. The kisses become less coordinated, but the shirts to manage to come off. Keith’s hands worked over Lance’s now exposed chest, marveling at the lean definition the prince had, compared to his build which reflected all the physical work he did in training.

     “Like what you see?” The prince asks a little cockily. Keith couldn’t help but snort.

     “I mean, you’re not half bad. I’ve definitely seen better though.” He throws back playfully. Lance pretends to look insulted.

     “Rude!” He retorts, causing Keith to laugh. He knew that Lance was nervous, and that he was trying to mask it with his little jokes and overly confident facade, so Keith decided to play into it, feeling just as nervous, but more at ease knowing Lance felt the same.

     “You really are attractive though.” Keith mutters as he presses a kiss to Lance’s chest right over his heart. Lance smiles.

     “Thank you.” He says curtly hands moving to Keith’s neck, mindlessly playing with the edges of Keith’s hair. Keith instinctively leans into the touch, looking up at Lance. Lance, through the slowly clouding fog of lust began to realize something. This was the moment, his hand slowly work into Keith’s hair, and he grabs a handful and tugs back. He was worried for a split second, what if he had hurt Keith, and Keith wasn’t as into having his hair played with in a sexual way as Lance thought, but the unrestrained moan that escaped Keith’s lips told him otherwise. Keith’s eyes were suddenly blown and he looked up at Lance with so much need that it stirred his own cock in his pants.

     “Lance…” Keith mumbles out, Lance looks down at Keith and he’s blinking up at him through his lashes. Leaning forward he takes a nipple into his mouth and sucks at it lightly causing Lance to shudder at the contact.

     “Y-yeah?” He eventually manages. Keith pulls himself away from Lance’s nipple and runs a hand down his stomach ghosting over his slowly hardening member.

     “It’s going to be our first time… do you want to fuck me… or should I fuck you?” Keith asks lowly. Lance’s brain short circuits for a minute at the question. What did he want?

     “I-I want to fuck you…” He finally manages to get out. Keith smiles.

     “Okay. Do you have any lubricant? It’s going to be a little rough without it…” Keith asks leaning to Lance’s nightstand. Of course Lance kept lubricant. Some safe oils that had relatively no scent to them for quite nights alone. Keith smiles as he pulls out a corked bottle.

     “Always prepared?” He teases. Lance rolls his eyes.

     “I’m allowed to play with myself aren’t I?” He throws back. Keith raises a pleasantly surprised brow at Lance.

     “Didn’t take you for the type to masturbate.” He comments as he sets the bottle down and tucks a pillow under his hips. Lance shrugs.

     “I’m a young man with needs, and it’s really awkward to ask your partner if they want to have sex, especially when you’ve never done it together.” Lance comments, Keith smiles, eyes narrow.

     “You’ve thought about us doing it before?” He says as he shimmies out of his pants and throws the rest of his clothes aside. Lance takes a moment to fully take Keith in. He’s seen him nude before, plenty of late night showers together, but this time the air is different.

     “I mean what else would I think about? It’s practically infidelity to think of another person when you’re already happily with someone.”

     “True. Now c’mon, take off your pants. I want to see you too.” Keith responds trying to pull Lance back into the mood. Lance undoes his pants and slips out of them tossing them off the bed to join Keith’s clothes. They were both naked now, quietly taking each other in. Lance slides a hand into Keith’s, who happily holds back, and he leans down to kiss him again. It was slower now, more refined for their first time. Keith’s legs slowly come up to wrap around Lance’s waist, and one hand snakes between them taking both of their cocks and holding them together. The moan in unison, finally breaking the kiss. Keith slowly works his hand over the two of them, Lance gently thrusting his hips to create more friction. Lance leaned down past Keith’s lips to his neck and slowly started marking the ravenette. Keith whined happily in response, his free hand coming to wrap around Lance’s neck to urge him on. Lance continues to kiss and bite down Keith’s neck to his chest, eagerly taking a nipple into his mouth and playing with it. Lance can hear Keith gape as he chokes on a moan, and smiles to himself happily. Keith was really sensitive there.

     “Lance… Lance.. Stop I’m close.” Keith pleads trying to push Lance away. Lance only complies when he feels Keith twitching beneath him uncontrollably, on the precipice of ecstasy. Keith practically screams out a moan as he climaxes, but doesn’t actually release. Lance fully pulls away to take in the sight. Keith weakly runs a hand through his bangs panting, his dick twitches as it lays swollen and red on his stomach as he pants for air.

     “You okay?” Lance finally asks once he sees Keith calm down. Keith manages only a nod, not really trusting his own voice.

     “Want to continue?”

     “Fuck-  _ Please  _ Lance. I need to come so bad it hurts.” Keith pleads. His hand falls from his face and Lance can see just how dilated his pupils are. Lance smiles knowing that he did that to Keith. His hand reaches up to the oil on his nightstand, and Keith is rubbing his hands against Lance trying to touch him, be close, make any contact. 

     “I’m going to prep you, don’t want to ruin the night by hurting you.” Lance says as calmly as he can muster. Keith nods. Lance uncorks the bottle and pours some of the slippery substance onto his fingers and slowly brings it down to where Keith’s legs are shamelessly spread. Lance teases Keith causing the ravenette to bark at him.

     “ _ Lance _ ,” He moans out.

     “For the love of god, stop teasing me and fuck me already. I can’t take it anymore.” He demands grasping at Lance’s shoulder tightly. Lance doesn’t bother to hide his smile.

     “Yes love.” He says sweetly as he plunges to fingers into Keith. Keith immediately has the air knocked out of him as he cracks through a moan, his head rolling back and back arching off the bed. Lance slows his pace, truly not wanting to hurt Keith in any way. Keith eventually settles down, breathing heavily. Lance continues to work the two fingers in and out of Keith stretching him ever so nicely. Lance didn’t have particularly thick fingers, but they were long and they reached places inside Keith that left him shudder in pleasure. Soon Lance was able to slip a third finger in and Keith barely noticed. Then three became four, and that’s when Keith noticed the stretch and the sweet burn that followed. Keith wasn’t really able to form any other words besides ‘Lance.’ and ‘Yes’ or a combination of the two. Soon Keith was on the edge again, legs futilely trying to come together as he felt the pleasure rise, so Lance pulled his fingers out slowly allowing Keith a chance to come back down again. While his lover lay breathing heavily, sweat sticking his hair to his face, Lance reached for the bottle of oil again, pouring some more onto his hands and slicking up his own member. Keith spreads his legs wider for Lance silently asking him to hurry up. Lance easily takes a hint and aligns himself between Keith’s legs. He watches Keith’s face closely as he slowly slides between the raveonettes legs and slowly presses into is hole. Keith’s head tilts back as a hand moves to cover his mouth. He bites into the skin and tears prick the corners of his eyes. Lance stops moving immediately thinking that he’s the cause of Keith’s tears.

     “Are you okay?” He asks. Keith nods frantically.

     “Yes… oh my god you’re so  _ thick _ . I can feel you everywhere. So good…” He moans out quietly. Lance smiles to himself and continues to press into Keith. He could see that Keith was already close again, the tip of his dick constantly streaming white onto his stomach, twitching erratically. Once Lance is fully seated inside Keith he stops moving. Keith’s chest heaves as he catches his breath and he looks at Lance reaching for him. Slowly Lance leans down to kiss Keith, trying not to move too much so Keith can take a moment to adjust. They kiss passionately for several moments, completely lost in eachother until Keith pushes Lance away. His eyes are dark and narrow and it looks like he’s a little more focused.

     “I want you to fuck me. Hard.” Keith demands. Lance is briefly taken back by the statement, but aims to please so he pulls out about half way, then slams his dick back into Keith. Keith practically screams.

     “Fuck yes! Holy shit. Do that again. You hit something…” He babbles into begging Lance to continue thrusting into him, so Lance does. Slowly pulling out then forcing himself back in as hard as he could. Keith started to lose himself, his words becoming incoherent as he begged Lance for more, moaning his name like a mantra. Keith was so far gone at that point, Lance could only do what he asked in the hopes that it would bring Keith to the edge, which he assumed that Keith was because every thrust in made his moans go up an octave until they were short, broken and airy. Keith helplessly held to Lance’s shoulders using what strength he had to pull him into a kiss that was messy and uncoordinated. Then Lance got a better idea and pulled away from Keith’s lips and moved down to his chest taking a nipple into his mouth and sucking on it. Keith moaned lewdly head flying back.

     “Close… close…. Close…” Was the only word he said as Lance continued suck at his chest and thrust into him deeply. The prince also snaked a hand up under Keith’s head sliding his fingers between black locks and the closed them into a tight fist as he pulled. That was the last straw for Keith and he came hard, back arching and cock shooting cum up to Lance’s chin. Lance was so caught off guard by Keith’s climax and the sudden tightness around his member that he came without warning into Keith. The two stayed like that for a moment breathing heavily as they came back down to earth. Lance slowly lifts himself to look at Keith, staring at him in the eyes trying to gauge how he was doing. Keith was still breathing heavy and his eyes were half lidded as if he was about to fall asleep. Lance smiles.

     “Keith… don’t sleep we need to shower and clean you out.” He says shaking Keith gently. His eyes open a little more as he looks back at Lance and smiles.

     “That was…”

     “Amazing?” Lance asks. Keith nods and pushes himself onto his elbows. Lance smiles.

     “Good. Now seriously, we should shower. There’s going to be a mess if we don’t and I can’t bear to look at my maids as they change my sheets while stained.” Lance says as he slowly pulls out. Keith winces and closes his legs.

     “Gross I’m leaking…” He groans out. Lance offers an apologetic smile.

     “If I had a little more control, I wouldn’t have released inside. But you suddenly clamped around me, I think I blacked out if I’m being honest.” Lance jokes. He slides off the bed and helps Keith to his feet. Keith makes a face of discomfort as he feels more of Lance leak out of him and down his legs.

     “Let’s hurry…” He mumbles as he shakily moves toward the bathroom. Thankfully the pain hasn’t set in yet, but Keith knew he’d feel it soon enough. They bathed in silence after rising Keith off and out. Lance was leaning against the edge of the tub and Keith was curled into him playing with some bubbles. It was quiet, the only sounds being the gentle splash of water and their breathing.

     “Keith?” Lance asks softly. Keith tears his eyes off the water and looks up at Lance.

     “Yes?” He responds. Lance meets his eyes and smiles at him like he’s looking at his entire world.

     “I love you.” He says warmly. Keith is momentarily caught off guard by the warm sincerity of Lance’s words, but returns the loving smile to the brunette.

     “I love you too.” He says moving up slightly in the tub to kiss Lance. They stay like that for a few more minutes, pressed together, languidly moving their lips in a silent rhythm. When they part they stare at each other intimately for a couple seconds.

     “We should go to bed.” Lance suggests. Keith nods in agreement.

     “Please, I’m actually exhausted.” And with that they rinse off, the playfully dry each other, and return to the bedroom. Surprisingly there were no pajamas laid out for the two, which made sense Lance supposed. He did ask that the maids let them be after dinner. So Lance pulls out some clean clothes for them, handing Keith his underwear and pajamas then changing into his own. When Lance was done Keith was already in bed watching Lance, waiting for him to join him in the bed. Lance smiles and crawls in beside Keith, who immediately scoots in and rests his head on Lance’s chest.

     “Goodnight Lance.” Keith says quietly.

     “Night Keith.” Lance responds.

     “Lance?” Keith calls out after a few seconds.

     “What?” Lance replies, almost asleep.

     “Next time we have sex I’m going to top.” Keith says definitely. Lance smiles to himself.

     “Okay, if you want to.” Lance replies. The two then slipped into sleep, a sleep so deep that almost nothing could wake them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end guys. To be honest, I was considering doing a final chapter after this where they swap, but I don't know. Tell me what you guys think in the comments!
> 
> Also thanks for all the support and love, and sorry I didn't post all that regularly. School is the devil's work.


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